Going Once, Going Twice, SOLD!
by Queen of Cliffies
Summary: Revenge is best served cold. An old case brings new horrors for Don, when Charlie is kidnapped. Will Charlie be auctioned off or will Don find him before time is up? Will Don save Charlie from his own personal hell?CharlieAmitaRomance eventually.
1. Taken

Carefully, Charlie looked over his shoulder. He sighed, no one was there. The young mathematician turned back to his chalkboard and started working on his equation. He still had the indeniable feeling that he was being watched. A footstep was heard overhead and curiously he climbed the stairs and looked out into the living room.

Spying nothing out of the ordinary, he returned to the basement to complete his work. Again he was facing his chalkboard and felt the presence of someone behind him. Unconciously he tensed up and the hairs on the back of his neck rose.

Slowly he turned around, but again, no one was there. 'I'm just paranoid' he thought to himself. Then he distinctly felt someones hot breath on the back of his neck. He went to turn to face the chalkboard again, but a hand had been placed firmly on his back and pushed him into the wall.

"Hey!" Charlie shouted and was rewarded by being banged against the wall harder.

"Shut up!" A voice whispered coldly in his ear.

Charlie fell silent as he felt the cool metal of a gun barrel pressed against his temple. The man whom the voice belonged to, drew his hands behind him and fastened them to together. He heard a small metal clink, handcuffs. Charlie prayed silently that Don would come home early and stop whoever this man was from whatever he was going to do to him.

Pulling Charlie back, the man propelled him toward the stairs. He stopped suddenly when he heard the doorknob turn and the squeaking of hinges. Inside his mind, Charlie leaped for joy. The man pushed him toward the back of the room and forced him to crouch behind some boxes.

The pressure of the gun barrel was still apparent against his skull and his captor warned, "One word and I'll spill your brains on the floor, one word."

Charlie nodded slightly, staying obediently silent. Hoping that Don would find him.

Minutes lasted for hours as Charlie heard Don descend the staircase and poke his head into Charlie's work area.

"Charlie?" Don called into the room. Don was greeted by the quiet silence. He opened the door the rest of the way and saw that no one was there. Or at least as far as he knew. Don climbed the stairs, muttering to himself, "He's at school of course."

Again they heard the doorknob turn and the door open and close. Don was gone. Charlie cursed to himself and the man dragged him to his feet.

He was pulled up the stairs and out the back door, where a small car was parked. He nearly puked when a disgusting tasting rag was tied around his mouth, effectively gagging him. A scarf was wrapped around his eyes and he felt himself being pushed into the backseat of the car.

'What the hell is going on?' Charlie asked himself silently. The door slammed and he heard his captor enter the driver's side. The engine started and the car started to take him away from his home. He wondered how long it would take Don and his father to realize that he was missing.

It finally dawned on him the situation he was in. Frantically, he struggled to relieve himself of his metal restaints. All he succeeded in, was causing the handcuffs to dig harder into the skin of his wrists; until they were raw.

He tried to scream through the retched rag, but his cries were muffled. He screamed until his throat was too sore to continue. He heard the man driving chuckle.

"I wouldn't waste your strength, Charlie," he told him icily.

Charlie tried to reply, but alas the gag was very effective. His reply was muffled and his captor only laughed harder.

"You're going to be quite useful to me," he informed him harshly and Charlie did _not_ like the sound of that.

"What do you want with me?" Charlie tried to ask.

"Pardon," his captor mocked.

"What do you want with me?" Charlie repeated, but again the gag thwarted his efforts.

"You're probably wondering what I want with you," the man practically read his mind.

Charlie nodded and the man chuckled, "I won't reveal that just yet, Charlie." He said it almost affectionately and it made Charlie sick to his stomach, "But get comfortable, this is going to be a _long_ ride."

Charlie did not even try to reply to this. He lay on the seat and prayed Don or his father would realize was gone soon and come find him.

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"Dad? Have you seen Charlie?" Don called when he returned home and found his father had arrive there before him.

"No, I assumed he was at _CalSci_ or with you," Alan Epps anwersed his eldest son.

"He's not at school, and he wasn't here earlier," Don replied.

"You sure?" Alan questioned.

"I'm sure," Don affirmed his father.

"Are you worried Don?" He asked his son.

"Not yet," Don answered. He opened the front door and he looked back at his father momentarily, "But I'm getting there. I'm going to look for him."

Alan nodded and grabbed his coat, "I'm coming too," he announced.

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Read and review please, I beg of you review!


	2. Other Purposes

Someone wanted longer chappies. I don't know about later, but this one seems longer than the last! I hope you enjoy. I'm not really sure if this is good, cuz it is my first attempt at Numb3rs fanfiction and I haven't seen the first season. Does anyone know where I can buy it, (if they sell copies of it anyway)?

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Other Purposes

Charlie moaned quietly as he awoke from a restless sleep. He realized he was in a moving vehical and not in his home. He went to run a hand through is dark curls and when he couldn't, the memories of what had happened crashed down on him.

His captor noticed the young man had woken up and said, "Have a nice nap, Charlie? While you were sleeping, I returned to your home to leave Donnie a little message."

"Mffffph!" Charlie replied.

"If you promise to be quiet, I might take it off and we can have a civilized conversation," the man proposed.

Charlie nodded and felt the car pull over momentarily and a hand pull the gag down, so it was off his mouth, but it still hung around his neck.

The engine started up again and the man asked, "So Charlie, how are you?" It was laughable really, that the man who had kidnapped him was asking such a stupid question.

"Fine," Charlie mumbled. He had just wanted the rag off, he didn't really want to talk to the man.

"Not very talkative are we? Might as well just put that rag right back in your mouth," the man observed.

"My brother will find me," Charlie yelled, "and when he does, he's gonna kill you!"

Sighing, the man pulled over again and readjusted the gag around Charlie's mouth. Once he was satisfied it would hold, he back-handed him across the face.

Charlie let out a muffled yelp of pain, he hadn't seen it coming.

"I thought you promised to be quiet," his captor said dangerously.

Charlie lay there silently as he felt the stinging of his cheek start so subside. The ride seemed unbearably long and Charlie felt himself beginning to doze off again.

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Don sighed in frustration, "Damn it, Charlie! Where are you?" He said under his breath.

A hand descended on his shoulder and Don looked up at his father, "We'll find him," Alan reasurred his son.

"Lets go home. He could've come home while we were looking for him," Don said and Alan nodded.

After arriving at Charlie's house, he went downstairs again to see if Charlie was there. When he turned on the light we saw writing on the chalkboard and he knew instantly that it wasn't one of Charlie's equations. Tentively he took a step forward, very aware that something was wrong. He read what was on the chalkboard.

"Sorry Donnie, you were so close. Didn't even notice us, didn't notice your little brother was in danger. What kind of older brother are you? Charlie is currently in my possesion. You have 48 hours to find him, before I sell his genius brain to the highest bidder. Good luck!"

Don's breath caught in his throat, Charlie wasn't just missing, he'd been taken! "Dad!" Don called up the stairs.

"Find him?" Alan called down, hopeful that Charlie had been in the basement all along.

"No, but you should call Terry," Don answered.

"I don't like the sound of that," Alan observed and came down the stairs. He stopped dead when he saw the message on the chalkboard.

"Don, what does he mean, you were so close?" he asked.

"I came down here looking for him, oh my god. He was here and I didn't even notice," Don realized. He looked down at his cell phone and pressed speed dial.

"Lake," Terry answered.

"Charlie's been kidnapped," Don said right away.

"I'm on my way," Terry replied, "I'll bring David too."

"Thanks," Don said and hung up the phone without saying goodbye.

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"Charlie were here!" His captor broke him from his doze. The door opened and he was dragged out of the car. He stumbled as he was led into some sort of building.

He felt his captor fiddle with his handcuffs and they reliquished their hold. Immediatly Charlie went to pull off the gag and the blindfold, but the man grabbed his wrists. He was forced onto what seemed to be a small cot.

His hand was forcably cuffed to the top part of the cot and the other soon joined the first. Next his feet were restained a similar way.

"There, that should hold you," the man said of his handywork.

Charlie felt the cot sink inward a little, signaling the man had sat on the edge of it. Again the gag was pulled down.

"No screaming, Charlie. Or next time it will be much worse," his captor warned him icily.

"Ok," Charlie whispered.

"Now, I guess you deserve to know whats going on," he said. "Don did something to me, he probably doesn't even remember. For that he must pay. He has 48 hours to find you. Starting, lets see," he looked at his watch, "twelve hours ago. That gives him 36 hours before I sell you."

"S-s-sell me?" Charlie stuttered, not wanting to believe what the man had said.

"Oh yes, I know plenty of people who could use a math genius. I also know plenty of people who would use you for _other purposes_," his captor answered.

Charlie shuddered involuntarily at the ways those two words were spoken, with such icy cruelty.

"Other purposes?" Charlie swallowed thickly.

"Yes, Charlie and you don't even want to imagine them," his captor said, "and I wouldn't get your hopes up. Don will never think to look here."

"You're wrong," Charlie whispered, hopefull that he, himself, was telling the truth and Don would find him, somehow.

"We'll just see about that, Charlie. Well I'm off to to speak to my buyers," the man said coldly. He tied the gag back around Charlie's mouth and ruffled his hair before leaving him laying there.

Panic threatened to overwhelm Charlie. He was in an unknown place, at the mercy of an unknown man who was bent on revenge. Running over the statistics in his head, he found his chances of getting away from his kidnapper and his "buyers", were low.

Thoughts ran threw his mind in a marathon of terror. What exactly had the man meant by 'other purposes'? Charlie didn't want to kow and didn't want to find out. In an attempt to supress the thoughts he started to think of the PNP equation. It comforted him, but only slightly.

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"What did you find?" Don asked Terry as she looked scrutinizingly at the ground.

Terry Lake looked into Don's face for a moment. His eyes pleaded for something that would lead them to his little brother.

"Two sets of footprints and a set of tire impressions. I"ll call CSU," she told him. "Are you sure you should be on this case?"

"I'm sure. This is Charlie we are talking about. I'm not about to sit back and do nothing," Don stated calmly. Total opposite of what he was feeling. He was frantic to find Charlie. He took a closer look at the footprints.

"One set looks like Charlie's sneakers..." Don broke off, "Damn it!"

"Don calm down. We'll get Charlie back," Terry tried to reassure him.

"We don't know that," Don told her sadly.

"Hey Don!" Agent David Sinclaire called from where he was talking to his neighbours.

"Yeah?" Don called back hopefully.

"We've got a witness!" David yelled.

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May not be as good as the last chapter cuz I wasn't high on coffee when I wrote this one!


	3. Who's to Blame?

Here is chapter three. I'm so sorry it toos so long, but I have been really busy with student council and stuff.

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Charlie continued to skirm, trying to manuver his hands out of the handcuffs. They were tight and his efforts were in vain. He could feel the blood starting to trickle slowly down his forearms and he stilled his body for a moment upon hearing a noise from outside.

He heard the door open and two sets of footsteps enter the room.

"Charlie, you've been misbehaving," his captor told him in anger when he saw the marks on his wrists, evidence he was struggling. He grabbed Charlies arm and jerked it forward. Charlie winced as the cuffs dug into his wrist again. He braced himself for the blow he knew was coming. He had angered an unstable man and knew he would be punished for it.

The blow landed square in the stomach, knocking the breath out of him. Charlie wheezed through the gag for a couple seconds before regaining what composure he had left.

"Now that that's over and down with," Charlie could tell his kidnapper was smiling, "one of my 'friends' has come to see my merchandise," he laughed at him, "a personal viewing, if you may."

"Mfffffffffffph!" Charlie really didn't like the sound of that. He felt the other man brush his hair out of his face. Most likely to get a better look at him.

"Hmmm... you said he was smart?" The other voice asked.

"Mathimatical genius," his captor informed the other man.

"Eh, that doesn't really matter, but it could come in handy," the other man said and Charlie realised it was one of the people who had 'other purposes' in mind.

Charlie shivered and both men noticed, "Cold?" His captor asked.

Charlie shook his head, that was not the reason he shivered, "Mfffph." Charlie tried to say something.

"Take it off, just for a minute," the other man said.

Charlie felt the gag be pulled down and he pleaded, "Let me go, please!"

"Can't do that, sorry. I wouldn't profit at all that way," his captor laughed.

"Ummm... I need to go to the bathroom," Charlie said quietly, realising that pleading wouldn't help matters.

"Well isn't that just too bad," his kidnapper said cruelly.

"Lexo, I don't want him messy and I don't think anyone else will either," the second man said to Charlie's relief.

"Fine," Lexo relented and started to uncuff Charlie's hands.

Charlie felt a strong pair of hands take hold of his wrists as Lexo uncuffed his ankles. He was pulled to his feet and dragged forward. He heard a door open and he was shoved into a room and the door slammed behind him.

He tore off his blindfold and looked around the bathroom. It was a small, square room, bare, except for a toilet, a sink and a window. He examined the window to find it nailed shut. The kidnapping was obviously planned out carefully.

Realising he probably wouldn't have many chances, he releived himself and washed his hands. Charlie winced when the water hit his bloody wrists. He finished up and opened the door, dreading being chained to the cot again.

Charlie was slightly surprised when no one tried to grab him. Looking around the room, he found that it didn't matter. The only way out was the door and either Lexo or his friend was standing in front of it. Resigned, he walked slowly toward the cot and sat down.

"All done?" the man at the door asked, he realised it was Lexo. The tone of voice, dark humor, was all too familiar.

"Yeah," Charlie muttered.

The other man or buyer came to stand next to the cot, "Stand up!" He ordered.

Charlie looked up and hesitated, so the man grabbed him by the hair, forcing him to his feet. Charlie's hands automatically went to his head without thinking. A fist slammed into his chin, nearly knocking him over, but the buyer kept his hair in a vicegrip. Charlie struggled to get his feet under him to relieve some of the stress on his scalp.

Standing as tall as he could, Charlie felt his eyes begin to water because of the stinging pain in his head and chin. The hand let go of his hair and he rocked back on his heels to keep from falling.

Charlie stood still as the buyer looked over him scrutinizingly. The eyes bore into him, making him feel quite uncomfortable, but in a situation like this, there really wasn't any comfort at all. Two hands on his chest shoved him back into a sitting position on the cot. One hand stayed on his shoulder, holding him down. The other hand prodded around his face and chest, examining his condition and appearence.

"He'd be a good investment," the buyer commented, "I'll give you..."

"Lowest is 10 grand," Lexo interupted.

"10 grand it is then, if anyone bids higher let me know and I'll decide if I'll go higher then. Deal?" The buyer offered.

"Sounds good," Lexo agreed.

The hand on his shoulder removed itself and Charlie stayed silent as the men discussed him. They were serious, he was going to be sold! He was being treated as an item. 'Damn it Donnie, find me,' he pleaded silently.

"How much more time?" Charlie asked quietly.

"33 hours, Charlie. Impatient are you?" Lexo asked harshly.

"J-j-just curious," he stuttered.

"You know what curiousity did, don't know?" Lexo said darkly.

"It killed the cat," the buyer answered for him before leaving.

"No more questions, I understand," Charlie replied.

"No more talking at all," Lexo ordered, "unless you want to be stuck there gagged and blindfolded again."

Charlie nodded meekly as Lexo left the room, locking it behind him.

Silently, Charlie prayed the Don was on his way or close to it.

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Don paced back and forth in his workplace, waiting for CSU to get him the information he needed. The witness had gotten them nowhere. All the guy had seen was a car speeding away and he didn't know the lisence plate and he described it as black and small. Don checked his watch, he had it set on a countdown system, 30 hours. He knew he couldn't let Charlie get sold or whatever the kidnapper had planned for him.

"Special Agent Epps?" He heard the mail guy call out.

"I'm here," Don sighed as he signed for the small parcel. On the the package he noticed the words: RE: Charlie. Don stared at it blankly for a moment and yelled, "Terry! David!"

Breathless the two agents got up from their desks (where they were overviewing all of Don's investigations for possible suspects) and rushed over.

"What is it, Don?" David asked.

"I got a package, regarding Charlie," Don told them and slowly began to open the package in front of them.

"Don, careful, what if..." Terry trailed off.

"He wouldn't send me a bomb, he wants me to suffer," Don explained quietly.

They watched in silence as Don slid the contents out of the parcel. Out of it came a cassette and a small portable tape player.

Don pressed the on button on the cassette and Charlie's voice floated through the room, "Don, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault," he said and Don noticed his voice was strained and scared, "OW! Please don't!" They heard Charlie plead with his captor and then shortly after his voice came back on the tape.

"Don't try and find me, you won't be able to. Just know that it is your fault this is happening to me. Your fault that I will live the rest of my life in captivity and fear. Don make sure to tell our father that you took his youngest son from him and remember you're a horrible older brother," Don dropped the tape player in horror at what Charlie had said. Don knew that Charlie had been forced to say it, (his voice had stumbled over the words) but that didn't change the fact he was right.

The message wasn't over. A new voice came on the cassette, "Hello Donnie," he said cruelly. " Have fun. The rest of your life you'll have to live with this." The tape ended abruptly and Don looked at the tape where it lay on the table.

"We have to dust the tape for prints," Terry said quietly. Don nodded blankly and handed her the tape.

Quietly Terry walked away to get the item printed. David started to talk to Don, "Don... you have to help us. Standing there is not going to help Charlie," he told him gently.

Don snapped out of his horrified daze and nodded, "You're right, David. Thanks," Don answered.

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Will they find him or will he be sold. I dunno where this idea came from so don't get all mad. It's supposed to be major angst. If Don is too late who should he be 'sold' to? It's partially up to you. I will take anything you say into consideration, but in the end I might just choose as I see fit. Either way feel free to give any suggestions. No flames please!

R & R!


	4. So Close, Yet So Far Away

Hey I'm back! I'm really happy with the positive feedback I've been getting. I didn't really think anyone would like my idea. I've only seen a few episodes and I'm afraid I'll make the characters 'out of character'. If any are out of character please don't hold it against me, I hope as I see more episodes I'll understand their personalities better!

Disclaimer: I don't own Numb3rs or its characters, I'm only borrowing them and I'll give them back in minty fresh condition when I'm done!

P.S. someone wanted the scene where Charlie was forced to record the tape so I added it in.

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**When Charlie Recorded The Tape**

"Take this," Lexo shoved a casette recorder into Charlie's hands.

"Huh?" Charlie looked at him confused.

Lexo shoved a piece of paper in front of his face and hissed, "Press play and read this."

Charlie looked at the paper and read the words on it. His eyes widened at what this man wanted him to say to Don, "No," Charlie said defiantly.

Lexo narrowed his eyes angrily, "Read it, now," he said through clenched teeth.

Seeing as he had no choice, Charlie pressed record and before Lexo could stop him said, " Don, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault."

Lexo grabbed Charlie wrist in a painful grip and twisted it so the tape fell out of his hand. Lexo raised his other hand at the same time, "OW!" Charlie cried out because of the pain in his wrist, "Please don't!"

Lexo's hand closed into a fist and slammed into Charlie's face. Charlie gave a small cry of pain and Lexo shoved the casette recorder and paper back into his hand. Pulling out his gun he pressed it against Charlie's temple and Charlie started to read the writing, "Don't try and find me, you won't be able to. Just know that it is your fault this is happening to me. Your fault that I will live the rest of my life in captivity and fear. Don make sure to tell our father that you took his youngest son from him and remember you're a horrible older brother," tears came into his eyes as he stumbled over the words.

Lexo smiled, took the gun form Charlie's temple and took the tape from him and added a small personal message, " Hello, Donnie. Have fun. The rest of your life you'll have to live with this."

Lexo stopped the recorder and rewinded it and pressed play, forcing Charlie to listen to the message. Charlie's tears began to fall as he heard the words his brother would hear. He knew hearing that would probably destroy Don. He hoped Don knew that he didn't mean it.

"Remember, no noise," Lexo warned and left Charlie alone again.

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**Later, after Don got the tape**

The silence was starting to get on Charlie's nerves and he was tempted to start talking to himself, but he remembered Lexo's warning. He had been left alone for awhile and Charlie guessed he had about 27 hours, or less, left. He paced nonstop around the room, figdeting and he jumped when the doorknob turned and Lexo came in flanked by three men. One of whom he remembered, the buyer that had hit him before.

"Hello, Charlie," Lexo greeted darkly. Charlie wasn't sure if he was supposed to answer or not, so he stayed quiet.

"Where are your manners," Lexo asked and smacked him firmly across the face in the same place as before.

Charlie's hand rose to his cheek and he said quietly, "Hi."

"That's better," Lexo replied humorously, "Now I figure it's about time to let my buyers start to bid."

"B-b-but I still have like a day left," Charlie started to argue.

"One, I make the rules and two, they're gonna bid now and pay when times up," Lexo explained icily.

"How do we know you're telling the truth about this guy?" one of the two unfamiliar men asked.

"Charlie," Lexo said sharply.

Charlie looked up and sighed. He started to rattled off the numbers of the a mathematical sequence. He didn't want to help Lexo, but he knew if he didn't prove his mathematical abilities, he'd be in for a beating and would be most likely sold to the 'other purposes' guy.

"That's enough," the man cut him off.

Charlie returned his eyes to the floor and sat on the cot. The four men talked among themselves for awhile quietly and he couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Well Charlie," Lexo said looking at him, "It's only fair that I tell you what these men do. You've probably already guessed what Alex wants with you," he pointed to the 'other purposes' buyer. Charlie nodded and Lexo continued, "Todd, here runs a terrorist organisation and Walt is big on fraud and electronic data theft."

Charlie thought about the information Lexo had given him. He couldn't imagine what could make this man condone selling a human being. What had Don done that was so horrible? Charlie looked at his watch again, 26 and a half hours.

"We want to assure you don't try to escape," Lexo said and Charlie realised what was coming next. He darted away from the cot and backed up into a corner. Trying to make himself as small as he could.

All four of them laughed at him and Charlie sat on the floor, staring silently as Lexo advanced on him.

"Something wrong, Charlie?" Lexo asked cruelly.

"Don't cuff me to the cot," Charlie pleaded.

"So sorry," Lexo said in a voice that told Charlie that he was anything but sorry. Lexo grabbed him and pushed him toward the cot. Charlie struggled to free himself from his grip, but Lexo had him firmly in his grasp.

Charlie was forced onto the cot once again and the buyers helped cuff him there. "Please don't," Charlie continued to beg, but his cries fell upon deaf ears and Lexo tied the rag back around his mouth.

Lexo took a step back and pulled out a polaroid camera. He snapped a picture that caught the fear and desperation in Charlie's eyes. Lexo waved the polaroid in the air a little and then stuck it into a small white envelope. He pulled out a pen and wrote a note on a piece of paper, folded it and slipped that into the envelope too.

"A little gift for Donnie," Lexo told him coldly.

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"Prints?" Don asked Terry Hopefully.

"None, sorry Don," she said sincerely.

"Damn this guy," Don yelled in frustration, "Why me, why Charlie? What the hell did we do to him!"

"I don't know," Terry answered, "but don't worry, we'll find Charlie."

"I know, but I want to find him before he does something that'll affect Charlie badly," Don replied sadly, "I don't want him scarred emotionally."

"None of us do, Don," Terry told him. She put an arm around him comfortingly, "Charlie is a grown man, he can take care of himself long enough for us to find him."

"I hope so," Don answered quietly.

"Hey Don!" David came running towards them.

"What?" Don asked quickly.

"Possible suspect," David said out of breath.

"Who?"Don questioned with anticipation.

"Victor Nevence, he was a father in one of your cases," David answered.

"His daughter, 15 year old Lexa, was kidnapped and..." Don trailed off.

"Sold," David finished for him, "Lexa committed suicide where she was held because the men who 'bought' her did some pretty nasty stuff to her."

"I was 5 minutes too late, I remember," Don told him, "She died just minutes before we found her. He wants me to know what its like to be too late, to be so close, yet so far away."

"Do we know where he live?" Terry asked.

"He seemed to drop off the face of the earth about 6 months ago, so no, we don't," David answered apologetically.

"So close, yet so far," Don muttered angrily.


	5. Bete Noire

A/N: I had alot of reviewers who wanted me to sell Charlie, and I haven't decided whether or not I am going to, but if so, I know to whom he'll be sold. As for the bad guy turning out to be good, I think, if I sell Charlie, I can use that basic idea, though I might twist it around around a little. I also ask that later on, you don't get mad, but I'm going to play with Charlie's emotions.(I love playing with my character's emotions!.)

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**Chapter 5:**

**Bete Noire**

Charlie fought off the evil thoughts that haunted him unfailingly. He now knew what his bete noire, his absolute worst nightmare, would be. If he was sold to Alex... he didn't know what he would do or what he could do.

The handcuffs continued to dig into his wrists, reopening the old wounds. He glanced upward at them and winced at the sight of his blood oozing from his wrists. He hated feeling so helpless and being at the mercy of Lexo and his friends.

His joints were very stiff and sore from laying down so long without excersizing at all and he wished knew how much time was left, actually he wasn't sure if he wanted to know, but that didn't stop him from wondering.

What confounded him the most, was why. Why did Lexo feel such hatred toward him and his brother, that he would do 'this'? His ponderings, however were interupted.

The door creaked open slowly and Charlie's head snapped over in that direction, staring at the door. Hoping, that somehow, it was Don. No such luck, for Lexo entered the room, smiling evilly, as usual.

"The price seems to have risen considerably," he announced, " 80 thousand dollars."

Charlie still couldn't believe he was serious. It was clear that Lexo was indeed intending on selling him. Tears started to form in his eyes as he realized he would probably never see his family, ever, again.

Lexo left soon after, leaving Charlie wondering what lay ahead for him.

The tears became relentless as he sobbed through the gag. He'd never teach again, never help Don solve crimes. He'd never get married or have kids. It was all too much to bear at one time and he ended up drifting off into a fitfull, restless sleep. One plagued with nightmares and they were all the same.

_Charlie was shackled next to rows and rows of other people and an auctoneer, emotionlessly auctioning off people, one by one. He was last and the price seemed to rise and rise, until finally someone called out, "10 million dollars!" _

_"Going Once!" The auctoneer called out, and it was followed by silence, "Going Twice!" Again the silence repeated itself. "SOLD!"_

_Charlie strained to look at the man who had bought him, rising onto the tips of his toes to get a look from in the crowd. He raised his head and looked straight into the cold, heartless eyes of Alex._

_"Nooooo!" He cried out desperatley but it was muffled and he was dragged away roughly from the crowd._

Charlie awoke abruptly in a cold sweat, his face covered in wet tears.

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"I put out a broadcast for Victor Nevence. If someone sees him, they'll call the hotline," David informed Don reassuringly.

"I'm gonna go see how my dad's holding up," Don said, "Keep me posted," he picked himself up off his chair and walked quickly out of the room before anyone could see the single tear drifting down his face.

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"Dad?" Don called into the house.

"Don!" Alan ran into the porch, "Did you find him?" Alan asked hopefully.

"No, sorry," Don said sadly, "How are you taking it?" He was genuinely worried about his father.

Alan just stared blankly at his son for a moment, blinked silently and then said, slowly and deliberately, "How am I taking it?"

"Sorry, stupid question," Don replied, shaking his head.

Alan and Don walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Flicking on the t.v. for something to do, Don noticed Charlie's picture on the news.

"Twenty-eight year old Professor Charles Epps was allegedly kidnapped from his home last night. A broadcast is being put out on this man, suspected to have committed the crime," a picture of Victor Nevence appeared besides Charlie's, "If you have seen either of these men please call 1-800-555-TIPS. It is thought that so far the FBI has no clues leading to Proffessor Epps's whereabouts," a reporter announced. "Proffessor Epps's brother, Agent Donald Epps, currently working for the FBI, is working dillengently to find his family member."

Don couldn't watch the rest and shut off the t.v. He sighed quietly, "Yeah, I'm working so hard, sitting here on my ass," he said sarcastically to himself.

"Don, don't be so hard on yout self," his father told him, "You've been working for almost twenty-four hours straight."

"Twenty-five, but who's counting?" Don corrected quietly.

"Get some sleep, your co-workers will keep you informed and if anything comes up, I'll wake you," Alan promised.

"Fine...okay, but just for an hour," Don yawned as Alan got up and he spread out on the couch. Alan grabbed a blanket and covered his already asleep son.

He sat on the recliner and watched Don as he slept. He couldn't bear to lose either of his son's and prayed that somehow, Charlie would come home to them.

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Charlie wished that he could wipe away the tears that lingered on his cheeks. He was alone again and over half of his time was up. Lexo had informed him of the halfway point at least three hours ago.

Hours of silence began to take its toll on him and he desperately wished for a kind voice to sooth his fears. Like his mother, but she was even farther away than Don or his father. He wished he had been there for her, when she had needed him, but he didn't know how to cope with the news at the time. If he wasn't there for her, why should she be there for him?

Charlie spent his time having imaginary conversations in his head with Don, his mother and his father. 'I'm going crazy,' he thought.

'Crazy people don't know they're crazy, Charlie,' his mom told him gently.

'I sure hope so,' Charlie replied in his head, 'I'm sorry mom.'

'It's alright, I know you meant well,' she said, 'Now don't worry, everything will be okay.'

_'Everything will be okay', _he wished she was actually there to tell him that, like so many times before. After his first day of high school, when another kid had teased him and beaten him up, his mother told him that everything would be okay, as she tended to him, and it had been.

The door opened with its ever familiar creak and Lexo walked in, "Hey Charlie."

Charlie knew he was just instigating and didn't try to say anything through the gag.

"Just thought I'd let you know, everything been's decided. I won't tell you who, that's a surprise. But I will tell you how much, 115 thousand. Not a bad profit, don't you think?" Lexo smiled at him manically.

Charlie tried to figure out statistically who had probably won the bid. There was a number of variables and he didn't have all of them yet, so he couldn't come up with accurate possibilty ratio.

Lexo chuckled lightly as he left Charlie, to again ponder his fate. In this case, the first fourty-eight hours were more crucial than usual statistics relayed. After he was sold, all Don would have was a paper-trail. Maybe even less than that, if Don hadn't any suspects.

He just didn't get it, what was Lexo's motivation? What turmoil went on in the man's mind that told him this was condonable. What had happened to him? In a way he pitied the man, he didn't know what happened to Lexo, but whatever it was, it must have been horrible.

"Damn it!" Charlie thought to himself. He was starting to identify with his kidnapper, Stockholmes Syndrome. No this man was planning on putting him through all sorts of horrors.

Charlie pushed his pity away. He supressed the sympathy and replaced it with the anger he felt towards him and unwittingly, also with the fear.

His stomach grumbled and Charlie realised how hungry he was, he hadn't eaten since... well... since three hours before he was kidnapped. He hadn't had anything to drink either and he knew he was getting weaker because of it. Probably Lexo's own sick way of limiting his strength to fight back and it was working.

Charlie had lost the strength to struggle against his restrained limbs. He lay there prone and still. Hope was draining from him fast and his tears weren't anywhere close to drying.

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Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm going to start working a chappy 6 for all of you now.


	6. In My Neighbours House

I'm so happy people like my story! As my first Numb3rs fanfic, I thought no one would like it and that I'd get angry reviews about the characters being OOC. Also I won't be updating for a couple days because I'm staying at my dad's for awhile. P.S. He doesn't have a computer!

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Don stretched out sleepily and yawned. He felt refreshed and ready to find his little brother. Who knew an hour of sleep would be so refreshing? Don glanced at his watch and was jolted in shock. It had been twelve hours!

"DAD!" He yelled angrily at the top of his lungs.

"Don! What's wrong!" Alan called back, rushing into the living room. Worried that something was happening. He didn't want to lose his other son, too!

"Why?" Don asked exasperated, "Why didn't you wake me!"

"There was no need, Donnie. I called every hour, there was no progress," Alan tried to explain to his eldest son.

"I coulda been helping them!" Tears seeped through Don's eyelids and he wiped them away quickly, slightly embarrassed.

"You can help them now, instead of wasting your time being angry at me," Alan replied wisely.

"Oh my goodness! You're right!" Don realized and ran out of the house and hopped into his car driving off, without even saying goodbye to his father.

Alan just stood there in the living room, shaking his head. Would he ever get his youngest son back? And he started to feel, that if he lost Charlie, he'd lose Donnie as well.

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Charlie felt it a struggle to keep his eyes open. He'd give anything for a drink of water. As little as a sip, would satisfy him.

It was torturous. Maybe if he could get to the bathroom, he could get a drink from the sink. He tried to do this, in his state of dehydration, he forgot about the restraints.

Lexo watched from the door in glee. Charlie had no idea he was there, until he laughed aloud.

Charlie slowly and difficultly turned his head to look at Lexo and pleaded with his eyes for water. Lexo smiled at Charlie and told him, "Sorry Charlie, I can help you if I don't know what you want." Lexo walked over to the weakened man and pulled down the gag.

"Water," Charlie whispered.

"Water..." Lexo repeated, signaling that Charlie was forgetting something.

"Water, please," Charlie begged in a rasping voice.

Lexo grinned and went into the bathroom and returned with a small papercup of water. Charlie opened his mouth hopefully and Lexo splashed it in his face, spilling most of it on Charlies face and neck.

Charlie savoured the little water that landed in his mouth and swallowed it.

"More?" Lexo asked, still grinning. Charlie nodded slightly.

Lexo filled the cup again and stood over Charlie and put the cup right in front of his lips. Charlie tried to take a drink, but Lexo grabbed the cup away from Charlie and downed it in his face.

Tears formed in Charlie's eyes, but they didn't fall, "Please."

Lexo only looked at him and raised a brow, "Maybe later, _if_ you behave." At that Lexo left.

If there was one thing Charlie could be thankful for, it was that Lexo did not put the rag back around his mouth. That would have only made him more thirsty. Lexo probably knew that Charlie's throat was too dry to even attempt to scream.

'How long was later?' Charlie wanted to know. He had totally lost track of time, but knew that he was running out of time. Time he just didn't have.

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Don arrived at the FBI Headquarters less than a half hour later. He ran smack into Terry on his way in.

"Don, sorry nothing yet," Terry informed him sadly.

"We only have ten and a half hours!" Don yelled at her, "Have you been doing nothing! Do you want Charlie to be sold to some-some..."

"DON! Calm down!" Terry interupted loudly so he could hear her over his yelling, "We've been doing all we can!"

"I-I I'm sorry. I'm just so worried about Charlie," Don apologized when her realized the accusations he had just spit out at her.

"Its okay, Don. We're all worried," Terry pointed to the other agents, who were watching them.

"Then lets find Charlie," Don answered and they got to work tracking down Victor Nevence.

"Not a single person has called the hotline and he hasn't used any sort of Credit or Debit cards in the last six months," Terry said aloud after hanging up the phone with CSU.

"How is that possible?" David asked, confused.

"Maybe we're looking for the wrong guy," Don said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Terry questioned curiously.

"I looked into Lexa Nevence's family life. She had an older brother. My guess, is that Victor Nevence died and no one found the body or reported him missing. Her brother's name is...Lawrence Nevence," Don explained.

"Sooo..."Terry invited him to continue.

"I think that Lawrence wants me to know what its like to lose a younger sibling, but he can't make himself kill anyone," Don finished.

"I'll put a broadcast out on Lawrence too," David picked up his phone and dialed. A couple minutes later he hung up, "All we can do now, is internet search Lawrence and wait."

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Charlie prayed that Lexo would return soon and give him some water. The door creaked and Charlie looked over hopefully, but what he saw froze his heart in place.

Alex had snuck into the room. He pulled out a small handgun and pointed it at Charlie. Raising a finger to his lips he whispered, "Shhhhhh."

Charlie was too shocked and too parched to speak. Alex adavanced on him and undid the handcuffs. Charlie was too weak to fight back as Alex turned him onto his back and tied his hands behind him with rope. Alex yanked Charlie to his feet, but Charlie simply sank to the floor.

"What's wrong with you?" He hissed.

"Water," Charlie choked out.

Sighing, Alex dragged him to the bathroom and gave him some water from the sink. However, Charlie was still too weak to walk, so Alex swung him over his shoulder and creeped out of the house.

Charlie looked around and found he was in his nextdoor neighbours house! "What the.." he trailed off.

"Yeah, I your neighbours were kind enough to lend Lexo their house after he threatened young Diana," Alex explained quietly.

Charlie stayed silent and wished he could run home. He tried to scream, but only a dry squeak came out.

"Bad boy, Charlie," Alex reprimanded and Charlie knew he'd be in for it when they reached their destination.

"I-I thought Don had more time?" Charlie spoke up in a whisper.

"I can't afford 115 thousand, so I took matters into my own hands. I would've came earlier, but Don was at your house, so I couldn't," Alex told him as he carried him out into the back yard.

Charlie heard a familiar voice yell "Hey! What are you doing! Let my son go!"

"Dad?" Charlie whispered hopefully.

Alex began to run and shoved Charlie into the trunk of the same car that had originally taken him.

Charlie realized that when Lexo had first taken him, he'd probably just driven around for awhile to throw him off. He heard the engine start and this time everything was so much worse.

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Alan sat in his backyard, wondering what he would do if he never got his son back. He'd already lost his wife, he just couldn't imagine losing his son as well.

He heard his neighbours back door open and looked toward the source of the noise. What he saw shocked him. A unknown man was carrying Charlie over his shoulder towards _a small, black car_.

"Hey! What are you doing! Let my son go!" He yelled angrily and tried to get over the fence, but it was, alas, too high.

What he heard next, broke his heart, it was the small, weak, but hopeful voice of his youngest son, "Dad?"

He could only watch as the man practically threw his son into the trunk and drove off.

Alan, wasting no time, called Don.

"Donnie!" Alan asked worriedly.

"Dad? Is something wrong?" Don replied.

"Charlie, he was in the Reeds home all along! Someone just took him from there and left!" Alan told Don hurriedly.

"I'm on my way," Don informed his father and hung up.

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A/N: How's that for a twist! HEHE I'm so evil!


	7. Cages, Scores and Bullets

Hey! I'm back from my Dad's! Did you miss me? I hope you did, or at least my story! I just got back and I'm already updating! Aren't I wonderful? Oh well, here's chapter seven!

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Lexo walked back from dropping off the envelope at Charlie's house and smiled as he imagined the reaction Don and his father would have when they saw it.

He heard some distant yelling, but brushed it off as kids playing nearby, He peered down at his watch, three hours to go until he could fufill his revenge. He thought ironic that Don hadn't noticed he was keeping his little brother right next door.

He walked casually into the house and made himself a sandwich. Munching on it he walked toward the basement to taunt Charlie with the food. He knew it would make his mouth water and Charlie would beg and plead for some.

Lexo chuckled to himself, but stopped abruptly when he saw the door to the basement was ajar.

He looked down into the room and called out, "Charlie!"

Hearing no reply from his captive, he rushed down, taking the stairs two at a time. He saw the cot empty, the hancuffs still there. He knew only one person who would take Charlie in this manner. His eyes narrowed and he hissed to no one in particular in realization, "Alex!"

He quickly took the cuffs off the bed, knowing he would need them and called Todd on his cell phone.

"Alex took him, if you want him you're gonna have to do some killing," Lexo told him.

"What? You can't do it?"Todd asked.

"I told you, I dont kill," Lexo replied a matter of factly.

"I'll meet you there,"Todd answered and hung up on him.

Lexo closed the phone and left the house through the front. About a block away, he saw the police cars heading toward the Epps's home or possibly his hide out. He was glad for the stroke of luck, that he wasn't there now. However, he had a score to settle.

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Don raced toward his little brother's neighbourhood as fast as he could, barely noticing the car that he had just passed, what mattered right now was getting Charlie back home.

He didn't bother pulling into the driveway, but pulled over on the side of the road. Immediatly, agents filled Charlie's neighbour's house, on the slightest chance someone who knew where Charlie was, was there.

"Clear!" David yelled and Don's heart sank. He ran next door for a moment to find his dad. On the front stoop he found a small white envelope addressed "Donnie."

Tentively, Don picked up the envelope and emptied the contents into his hand. A poloroid photo and a small piece of paper fell out. His eyes went to the photo first.

Don's eyes watered as he saw it. His baby brother, handcuffed to a cot, bloody and bruised.

"It should be me," he whispered sadly, then his eyes ran over the words written on the note.

**"Not long left, Donnie. Find us, if you can? Oh, and did I neglect to mention that Charlie hasn't eaten at all since I obtained possession of him. I bet he's hungry."**

Don's eyes narrowed, "That Bxxxxxxd!" He voiced angrily.

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From in the trunk, Charlie wondered what was going to happen to him. Would Don be able to track him down? Would Lexo come get him so he could get his money, or would Alex be able to keep him?

The thought sent shivers down his spine. Whatever Alex had planned for him, it wasn't good. The engine stopped and Charlie braced himself for the sudden burst of light.

Alex reached into the trunk and lifted him out and again put him over his shoulder. He was brought into a warehouse this time.

Upon entering he saw at least ten other young men inside. They were in a large cage made of fence wire. Another man opened the door to the cage and Charlie was thrown in there, the door slammed shut behind him.

Immediatly the other men untied him and helped him sit up, "What is this place?" Charlie asked, confused.

"A slave ring," one of the men told him.

"A prostitution ring," Someone else said at the same time.

"Not a great place to be," Another man finished, summing up both answers.

"Greeeeeeat," Charlie answered sarcastically.

"So, new guy, what's your name?" The first guy asked.

"Charlie Epps," he rasped, as he was still dehydrated.

"I'm Mike Yoke," Mike told him.

Their talk was interupted by Alex letting someone in. It was an older man and Alex led him toward the cage, "Take your pick," He said.

The rest of the men retreated to the back of the cage and Charlie tried to make himself small from where he was. The older man looked around and pointed at the guy who had said this place wasn't a great place to be.

"Sam, that's you," Alex called out and Sam relunctantly went toward the entrance of the cage; where he was grabbed and dragged out. The older man took him buy the arm and pulled him toward on of the doors that lined the walls. That's when Charlie realized it wasn't a warehouse, but an abandoned hotel.

Sam was forced into the room and they lost sight of him, but they still heard him.

"Yeah, that's what happens here. You'll be lucky if you last the day before it's your turn. The record is serving 7 clients in one day. That guy is long gone now, though," Mike told him sadly.

"Yeah, Jake was a good guy, too bad for him all the clients liked him," someone spoke up.

A while later Sam was dragged back out of the room in tears. He was thrown into the cage again and Mike asked, "A bad one, huh?"

Sam only nodded through his tears. All Charlie could do was give him a sympathetic look. He couldn't empathize with the man, at least not yet.

The silence didn't last long, apparently everyone was used to this, although he doubted that it made it any easier. "I'm hungry," one of the younger men complained in a tentive whisper. He could only have been at the most sixteen, a boy, not a man.

"I haven't eaten in days," Charlie added.

"You're exagerating!" The boy replied quietly.

"No, I'm not," Charlie answered, "I haven't eaten in almost two days. If I could've, I would've"

"Damn," the boy said sympathetically.

"Yeah. Anyway, what's your name?" Charlie asked.

"Tommy," Tommy told him in a voice barely more than a whisper. Charlie felt a connection with the young boy, but he wasn't sure why. The kid sat down beside him and continued, "I was taken from my foster home during the night. I'm fourteen."

" I was taken from my basement in broad day-light," Charlie informed him, "I was held in my nextdoor neighbours house for two days and still no one found me."

Tommy asked, "That's when they didn't feed you, right?"

"Yeah," Charlie sighed.

Alex again interupted them, but it wasn't for a client. It was, thankfully, for food. It was only a bunch of dinner rolls and ten or so bottles of water. Each of them grabbed a roll and a bottle of water. Tommy was nice enough to get Charlie's for him, since he doubted he could walk yet.

"Thanks Tommy," he said as he accepted the roll and water.

"No problem," Tommy replied, almost timidly. It was obvious the boy was battling his demons. The demons that came with being kidnapped and rented out like an object.

Everyone ate in silence and soon after another client was allowed in. This one was about 45 and again, eveyone but Charlie, retreated. The client looked around the cage and to Charlie's horror, pointed at him.

"Charlie, c'mon lets go," Alex called to him and Charlie tried to get up, but failed, "Don't make me come in there," he added dangerously.

Charlie swallowed thickly and tried again, when he failed, Tommy and Mike helped him up and supported him to the door, "Thanks," he whispered to them.

Alex grabbed Charlie and handed him over to the client, who dragged him toward one of the rooms. "I'm gonna have lots of fun with you," the man whispered evilly in his ear.

"Leave me alone," Charlie pleaded quietly.

"Afraid I can't do that. I paid for a half hour and I'm gonna get my time," the man smiled as he turned the doorknob.

Just as the door to the room opened, the door to the hotel opened and someone familar yelled, "Charlie, get down!"

Charlie used what strength he had, to wrench himself out of the client's grasp and dropped to the floor as bullets erupted into the room.

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Hope it was long enough! READ AND REVIEW!

Love: Nicole LeQuant


	8. Venom

So, did I keep you waiting too long? Sorry but I've been busy. My Uncle Nev is getting married, my dad is the best man and I'm a bridesmaid! There's even goning to be a red carpet and a limo. My (future) Aunt Dawn wants it to be a very memorial event and I think it will be! My Aunt Dawn is soo cool! I'm so happy for my Uncle Nev, we though he'd never get married, (not my words but someone elses.) Anyway here's the next chappy! I'm sorry I made a mistake in the last chappy, Lexo calls Todd the terrorist, not Walt. I'm really sorry, but I typed the wrong name, please forgive me! (The funny thing is, I typed the wrong name more than once.)

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Charlie sat crouched on the ground, not daring to lift his head until the gunfire completely ceased. Once the blasts ended, he rose his head, hopeful that Don was the one coming to find him.

However, life was being unaturally cruel to Charlie today and he saw Lexo and Todd in the doorway. Todd was holding the gun and was obviously the shooter. He saw the two dead bodies next to him and felt ready to spill the little food he had in his stomach.

Turning his head towards the cage he noticed that the rest of the men had crowded around the door of it, unknowing that these weren't their saviors. They whispered excitedly among themselves and waited for the door to their prison to be opened. Charlie lowered his eyes to the broken tiles on the floor.

Lexo strode over to Charlie's still crouched form and grabbed his wrists. The men watched shocked at he wrenched Charlie's hands behind him and cuffed them together. Charlie said nought a word during the duration of this.

"Sorry boys, but we aren't here for you, just Charlie here," Todd announced coldy, "But, I have an experiment that needs a specimen, any volunteers?"

They seemed to finally realize this wasn't an offer of release, but of something possibly worse than what they had already been through. No one stepped forward and Todd picked one at random.

Taking the keys to the cage off Alex's dead body he opened it and pulled out the closest man to the door, Mike. Lexo tossed him an extra set of handcuffs and Todd fastened them around Mike's wrists tightly.

Todd nodded to Lexo. Charlie was dragged to his feet and far away from the cage, where he was forced to kneel. Todd followed suit with Mike, forcing Mike on his knees beside Charlie. Leaving the two men with Lexo, he pulled three tiny devices from his pocket and tossed them into the cage. One at each side and one in the middle, "Bye, bye," he waved before running away from it.

"Nooo!" A scream erupted into the air as the three simultanious blasts rocketed in the cage, not getting farther than 10 feet from each starting point. They were small, contained explosives. Like nothing Charlie had ever seen.

As the smoke cleared, Charlie and Mike saw the charred bodies of their friends,(more Mike's than Charlie's, but still). What broke Charlie's heart the most was to see a burnt body, that could only be the tall and skinny Sam, lying on top of a relatively okay looking body. The body of Tommy. Sam had to have been the one who screamed, trying to save the young boy. To Mike and Charlie, it looked like he had failed.

"He was only a kid," Charlie whispered to himself in regret.

Both shocked men were lifted to their feet and walked out of the hotel slowly, Charlie too still weak to walk all that fast. Tears fell down his cheeks, he couldn't save any of them and he desperately had wanted too.

Unbeknowst to anyone else, a boy skirmed his way out from underneath the body of his fallen comrad. The men had gone and there were only seven bodies in the cage, Tommy realized that Charlie and Mike had been taken. He limped out of the cage diffucultly and tugged Alex's phone out of his pocket. It took a couple minutes, Tommy was repulsed at touching the body, but 'a boy's gotta do, what a boy's gotta do'.

Flipping open the phone, he dialed the number, that he wished he could've dialed long ago.

"911, what's your emergency?"

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"Don, you've gotta call about an explosive and some sort of forced prostitution ring. It's an important case, so you've been assigned to it," Terry told Don informatively, aware that it wasn't something he'd want to hear. Don was preoccupied with finding Charlie.

"Can't they see I'm already on a case!" Don asked in anger, "I'm finding Charlie!"

"Don, they need you! A child is involved!" Terry tried to persuade him.

"A child? Alright, but keep me posted and if anything comes up, anything at all. I want to be notified. I have to be there when you find him," Don comprimised, once he realized a young person was involved. He knew how Charlie hated seeing kids mistreated, like that case they worked on together previously, Charlie had been so set on finding that little girl. He'd help the kid for Charlie, because he needed to, for the kid and for himself.

Don drove toward the address that the crime had taken place. Colby sat silently in the passenger's seat, very aware that Don would rather be finding his brother right about now. Don pulled over in the parking lot of the building, smoke was still emulating from the holes in the roof.

Don got out and found a young boy sitting with a blanket wrapped around him, near the ambulance.

"Hey, I'm Agent Eppes" Don said sofly, "What's your name?"

"Tommy," the boy croaked out.

"What happened? Can you tell me what happened?" Don pressed gently.

"He took me six months ago," Tommy told him, meeting Don's eyes for only a moment befor looking down again.

"Who?" Don questioned.

"The dead guy with the red hair," Tommy answered in a whisper.

"Do you know who killed him?" Don asked.

"Two men came in," Tommy's voice cracked, "They took the new guy and handcuffed him, they took Mike too and made them kneel down away from the cage. Then one of them threw in the bombs and Sam saved me." Tommy pointed a shaking finger toward Sam's charred body, "They all thought I was dead."

"Do you know the whole names of the two men they took with them?" Don looked at the boy and saw the sorrow in his eyes.

"Micheal Yoke and... the men that came in, they called the new guy Charlie," Tommy whispered and saw something flash through Don's eyes, "Did I do something wrong?" He looked at the agent with wide, questioning eyes.

"No," Don whispered soothingly, before looking at the dead body of the red haired man. He fit the description of the man his dad had seen taking Charlie, "You did everything right, Tommy. You might help me find my little brother."

Tommy smiled slighly at the thought he might be some help after all, but only slightly. Don watched as the ambualnce took Tommy away and when it was out of sight he called Colby over, "We have a lead on both cases," Don informed him, "It's the same case."

Colby only nodded and pulled out his cell phone to alert the others, while Don tried to figure out where those men had taken Charlie.

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Charlie and Mike were blindfolded after being forced into a large van. Neither man said a word as they listened to the men talk.

"My money?" they heard Lexo ask from where he was driving. They only knew this because his voice sounded farther away than Todd's.

"Just a second," Todd answered as they heard the rustling of paper, he was counting out the money that decided Charlie's future. They heard a click as a breif case was closed, "It's all in there. Large bills, but still there."

Charlie winced as the van hit a bump and heard Mike supress a grunt of pain. They might've been on a dirt road by that point, or possibly one that hadn't been repaved in decades. The van stopped after awhile of travelling on the bumpy road and the two were forced out and walked onto a building. They heard a door slam behind them as they were led through a maze, or at least it seemed so.

Finally they were shoved into a room and had their restaints taken off. Slowly each took off their own blindfold and looked around.

The room was a medium sized bedroom of sorts. Two bare mattresses lay side by side in the far, left corner and a desk sat against the right wall, near the front of the room. The bathroom was a toilet and a sink installed in the far, right corner, and the only privacy was a shower curtain that you could pull in front of you, like a seperating curtain they sometimes used in a hospial when patients shared a room. One the right wall, above the desk lay a small window, otherwise the room was bare.

Lexo left without a word, leaving them alone with Todd and a bulky man neither had seen before. The man handed Todd a syringe and advanced on Mike, pinning him down easily. Charlie tried to pull the man off Mike, but Todd sent him flying backward with a solid punch to the face using the hand not holding the syringe. Todd was no small man either and could pack a punch.

Todd leaned over the pinned Mike an injected a cloudy liquid into his arm. Immediatly Mike started screaming and writhing in pain. Charlie pulled himself up and stared in shock as Mike continued his agonizing screams, "W-w-w-what did you do to him?" Charlie heard himself ask.

"A mixture of snake and spidar venoms was formulated by our resident chemist, who wants to be here just as much as you do, to cause the most pain possible before death," Todd explained, "I have a tested version that doesn't kill, but this one is untested and made to kill."

Mike let out another scream and kicked out at everything as Charlie only stared at Todd, his eyes wide with terror.

"If you don't behave, you're gonna get the tested version," Todd warned icily, "That much pain for hours on end, approximately three. I suggest to make your friend here as comfortable as possible before he dies."

With that, Todd left and the bulky man followed him, locking the door as he left. Charlie tried to get Mike onto one of the mattresses, but he kicked and screamed at any contact. After ten minutes of struggling he finally got Mike onto one of the mattresses.

Charlie's lip trembled as Mike let out another yell of excruciating agony.

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So it wasn't Don, and Charlie is now in the evil hands of Todd. I don't think this chapter was very good, tell me if you think otherwise. I'm having trouble finishing the train of thought, it seems my pink plot bunny has abandoned me, if anyone has one I can borrow or if you find him please let me know.Also of you have any suggestions for the story feel free to tell me them. I'd be happy to consider them.

Nicole


	9. Jordan

A/N: I'm sorry this update took so long. My brother broke my computer and I can only go on at lunch in the library for so long each day. So probably until Christmas my updates will be pretty scattered, but I promise I'll finish this one first! Oh yes and between December 23 until the second week in January I can almost guarantee there will be no updates, sorry!

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Charlie watched silently as Todd and a couple of his 'henchmen' dragged Mike's limp body out of the room. He wanted so badly to jump on them and tear them apart for what they had done. Blowing up eight innocent men and killing Mike so painfully, without a single tear of regret.

He'd comforted the man as he took his last, rasping breaths. Mike's last words would haunt him, he had pleaded with Charlie, "When you get out…find my baby, my Jamie. Find her…" and with that he let out an agonized moan and breathed no more.

He didn't know what to be afraid of now. As it looked, Todd wouldn't risk killing him, but what pain would he put him through, to get what he wanted.

Todd leered at Charlie with his pale, cruel eyes, "I have work for you," he told him menacingly.

Charlie didn't meet his gaze. He couldn't bear looking at the cold-blooded killer. He kept his eyes aimed at the floor, not out of fear, but out of repulsion. "Like what?" He asked contemptuously.

"You're to address me as Sir and you will not use that tone of voice!" Todd yelled, smacking Charlie across the face in a violent rage. The words were those that a father might've said to his son, but the way Todd said them, it was an order that you didn't want to disobey.

Charlie's head whipped back at he impact and slowly he raised his eyes to Todd's, "Sorry."

Todd only raised his fist and Charlie added, "Sorry, Sir."

Todd nodded at Charlie, but didn't lower his fist, instead he smashed it into the side of his face, in he same place he had just smacked, "You should've said it the first time."

Charlie stumbled backward and fell onto the cold, hard floor and lay there in a scared silence.

"I'll be back with your work," Todd said slamming the door behind him and Charlie distinctly heard the key turning in the lock. He was still stuck there and now he was afraid. Todd had a very violent temper and it was very short too.

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Tommy sat in the hard chair, describing the faces of the two men who had taken Charlie and Mike.

"Ummmm, the first guy was kind of pock-faced, narrow eyes, thin lips, long straight nose and a curved scar on his chin," Tommy remembered Lexo's cruel face.

The artist sketched quickly and turned the paper towards him, "Like this?" he asked gently.

Lexo stared back at him and he nearly screamed in terror, but instead he nodded stiffly. "Ok, what about suspect #2?" The artist questioned inquisitively.

"He was big. He had a round face, wide-set eyes, a small almost button-like nose and thick lips. He also had really bushy eyebrows," Tommy whispered in a barely audible voice.

He turned the sketch toward Tommy, but something was wrong, "His face was wider on the forehead and his nose was sort of crooked," Tommy corrected, raising his eyes to meet those of the artist.

The artist quickly made the changes and the face looked exactly like Todd. Tommy nodded that the picture was in fact one of the men that had taken Mike and Charlie.

The artist stood and walked out of the room, and Don entered, brushing up against the artist to get through.

"Tommy, I'm sure Charlie and Mike would be proud of you, I know I am," Don told the young boy in an attempt to cheer him up.

"I know," Tommy whispered, "You're not going to put me in a foster home are you? They took me last time," he added in a fearful voice.

Don lay a comforting on the boy's shoulder, "Never, you can stay with me or my dad, okay?"

Tommy nodded silently and smiled weakly, "Thanks."

"No problem, Buddy. You're helping me find my brother, it's the least I can do," Don replied comfortingly, "C'mon, I'll get David to drive you to my dad's and introduce the two of you."

Tommy nodded again as Don started to walk out of the room. Don looked back and beckoned him to follow. Getting up slowly, Tommy trailed Don out of the room, where he met David and got into his car.

Don watched as the teenager was driven away, sorrow in his eyes, the boy had been through too much for his years. It wasn't fair, but Don knew for a fact, life wasn't fair.

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Charlie watched as Todd dragged a young woman into the room, she had dark shoulder length brown hair and deep brown eyes. From his position on the mattress, he could see the hurt in her eyes.

"Let me go!" She yelled at the terrorist angrily. Todd shoved her into the room roughly and slammed the door behind him loudly. The thud it created echoed throughout the small room for a moment as the two stared at each other. The woman's eyes were wary of him. Charlie pulled himself to his feet.

The silence lasted for only a moment before she asked, "Who are you?"

"Charlie," was his one word answer. He wasn't sure of her just yet, was she the chemist or someone else.

"I'm Jordan Ferrier," She offered, "a chemist from Florida. I was here visiting my family when… well you put the pieces together."

"Charles Eppes, Mathematician and consultant for the FBI. My brother's an agent," Charlie told her imformatively.

"Lucky you, that means they'll never let you go," Jordan said sarcastically.

"I kinda figured that," Charlie answered quietly.

"Sorry, didn't mean to remind you, but no one can really forget," Jordan replied seriously.

"They killed them all," Charlie informed her sadly. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Who…your family"? She questioned softly

"No, before I was here, I was with about eight or nine other men and a teenage boy, they killed them all," Charlie confided, since there was no one else who'd listen.

"I'm sorry, Charlie, I really am," she soothed quietly.

"Looks like we're going to be roommates for awhile," Charlie changed the subject abruptly, brushing her hand off his shoulder. He wasn't in the mood to be comforted, only home could comfort him now, "Want the mattress closest to the wall?"

"I really don't care about which bed," she told him, then going back to the past subject, added, "I'm sorry they used the venom on your friend. I wish I never made it, but I had no choice."

Charlie remained silent for a moment, "It wasn't your fault," he said finally, sitting back down on the bed and she sat beside him.

Todd opened the door with a loud squeak and shoved a laptop into his hands, "Figure out a way, using your math stuff, to make the venom into a deadly cloud and how to disburse it," Todd ordered with an evil grin.

Charlie swallowed thickly and asked, "Why… uh, sir?"

"I'm going to have some fun with the FBI building," Todd told icily.

"I won't do it; I won't let you hurt my brother or my friends!" Charlie told him defiantly, all fear draining from his body. He knew had to protect them and he shoved the laptop back Todd's hands.

"I thought you'd do that," Todd told him the manic grin still on his face, he turned to someone who waited just outside the door and gave them the laptop, his hand came back holding a syringe.

"It's for your own good," Todd told him, advancing menacingly. Charlie backed up against the wall and saw Jordan placing her self in front of him.

"Don't," was all she said. Todd simply pushed her out of the way, someone grabbed her and held her firmly back.

Charlie's back was pressed against the wall, his shoulder's were raised stiffly in fear and the hairs on his arms and neck stood on end. Todd grabbed his arm and forcefully stabbed the needle into him, releasing the liquid inside.

The pain started immediately and he barely registered Todd leaving the room. ? He fell face up on one of the mattresses. He felt as if he was being stabbed over and over again, being beaten to a pulp and all his bones were being broken at the same time.

He held in the screams for as long as he could, but it was just too much. He let out a blood curdling scream and Jordan ran to his side.

"Charlie! Oh my god!" She yelled and she reached him. Carefully she turned him over and rubbed his neck, relieving him of some of his pain.

"How do you do that?" Charlie asked breathing heavily.

"I made the stuff, remember?" She told him in a quiet and remorseful voice.


	10. The Arrest

Chapter 10

Ideas

A/N: Hey everyone, I'm sorry again it took so long, but I still don't have my comp fixed and my tech teacher has us doing like a new assignment a day, so I haven't really got much time to type this up. Anyway I don't own Numb3rs (in case I hadn't clarified that earlier) or anything affiliated with Numb3rs. I only own Lexo, Todd, Walt, Alex, Jordan, Tommy and the guys Todd killed in the cage. I haven't mentioned Amita or Larry at all, but there will be mention of them. And there should be a little of Alan in this chapter as well.

Charlie still lay face down on one of the mattresses as Jordan sat beside him, dutifully rubbing his neck to relieve some of his agony. He still let out a moan of pain every once and awhile, but it seemed to be subsiding little by little. They carried on a small conversation to pass the time and to take Charlie's mind off the painful spasms coursing through his weak and tired body.

Jordan's whispers comforted him and he was glad to have her for company. Without her, he'd be alone in his agony; agony that would be even worse if she wasn't there with her soft massages.

Charlie's voice, when he answered her, was always filled with pain and she wished she could ease it more than she already was doing.

Jordan grew tired from the repetitive motion, but couldn't let him go through as much pain as he would if she stopped.

"You're going to have to do it, Charlie," she told him sorrowfully, "They'll up the dosage if you don't and I won't be able to help you if they do.

"I can't do it Jordan. I can't let them kill my brother with that stuff," Charlie whispered through the pain.

"I know, but what else can you do?" Jordan pondered to him.

"What else can I do, but not do what they want me too? I may be the younger brother, but I still have a responsibility to protect Don if I can help it," Charlie explained, "I can't let him get hurt let alone killed."

"I know, but... DAMN IT! They aren't giving you much of a choice!" She felt like screaming, but knew it would only gain their captors unwanted attention, instead she said it in the angriest voice she could muster.

"Well that's the point isn't it," Charlie said contemptuously of Todd's attempts to make him help create something that would kill those close to him.

"Yeah, it is. But where do they get off doing this? This isn't condonable by any cause; killing and torturing the innocent," Jordan didn't know what drove the terrorists forward from her months as their captives, but she knew their brutality.

"I don't know," Charlie said in a voice that barely rose over a whisper, "but I can't let them hurt my brother. I can't let them kill him.

Jordan knew that he couldn't let his family get hurt. She already knew the pain that would cause him, "They killed my family to get me; my parents, my husband and my 2 year old son and that was six years ago. I won't let them hurt your family. Charlie," she said in a low whisper, "I have an idea."

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"Hey Don! I'm back from my leave!" Megan Reeves called happily into the office, totally unaware of the tense situation.

Heads turned to stare at her, wondering how the hell she could be so happy, hadn't she heard?

"Megan…" Colby went up to her quietly and whispered, "Charlie's been kidnapped."

She stopped abruptly in her tracks, "You're joking," she said disbelievingly.

"No, he's not," she heard Don's voice from behind her. She whipped her head around to see his weary, worried face. He looked haggard and there was a hurt in his eyes that was very prominent.

"What can I do to help?" She asked quietly.

"You're job," Don answered simply before Terry ran in, interrupting the conversation.

"Don! One of the sketches matches the description of Lawrence Nevence! Someone's seen him!" She yelled excitedly to him. She stopped in front of him panting and out of breath.

"Give the address to Megan and Colby. They'll go," he told her.

"But I thought you'd want to go," Terry said furrowing her brow in a confused expression.

"He doesn't have Charlie anymore and if I see him right now…" Don trailed off for a moment, "I'll probably kill him before he can tell us where he is."

"Okay," she answered quietly and handed off the information to the other agents.

After Megan and Colby left, Don led Terry to an area where he thought they wouldn't be disturbed.

"Terry… I don't think I can take this," he confided. She could see the intense pain in his eyes, "all this wondering, and not being sure if I'll ever find my baby brother alive."

"You have to be strong," she whispered, "for Charlie."

"I'm glad you came back from D.C." he told her, "I know I wouldn't be able to handle this without you."

"Don, I… I don't know what to say," Terry told him truthfully.

"That's okay," Don felt the tears he'd been struggling to hold in for the past couple of days sliding down his cheeks in torrents, "It's all my fault," he confessed and to him it was the truth.

"No, it's not," she'd never seen him this way, but he'd never been in this situation before. All she wanted to do was ease his pain. Tentatively she brushed her lips softly against his, "Don't worry, we'll find him."

Don rubbed the tears out of his eyes and for the first time in what seemed like years, gave Terry a tiny smile.

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Tommy walked shyly into the unfamiliar house after David.

"Hey David," he heard an older man say wearily, "find him?"

"Not yet," the agent answered in a voice equally as weary.

"Who's this?" The man questioned lightly, smiling for the boy's sake, but it was obviously forced.

"I'm Tommy," the teenager spoke up in a whisper that was barely audible.

"Don asked me to bring him over. He's a witness to the case" David explained briefly, darting around the topic of Charlie's kidnapping.

"Alright," the man nodded to the agent, "I'm Alan, Don's father."

"I've got to go," David announced, "in case they need me."

Alan and Tommy both nodded solemnly and watched him leave.

"So…Tommy," Alan began, "You wanna watch some t.v.?"

The boy shrugged and plopped down on the couch, "I dunno what kind of shows they have on now. Haven't watched t.v. in at least a year."

"Whaddya say we get you some chicken soup instead?" Alan offered.

He was surprised to see the boy's eyes light up and Tommy asked incredulously, "Really?"

"Really," Alan answered, "why don't you help me out in the kitchen?"

Tommy wasn't quite ready to smile, but Alan could see the happiness in the teenager's eyes.

_I'm free, I'm really free! _Tommy thought to himself as he followed Don's father into the kitchen.

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Megan unholstered her gun as she creeped stealthily around the warehouse where Lawrence Nevence had been seen last. She saw the man out of the corner on her eye, "Colby… I got a visual, northeast corner," she whispered into the radio.

"Got it, I'm on my way," he answered quietly and a minute later the both of them were closing in on their suspect.

Megan gave Colby a small nod and he yelled, "FBI! Hands on your head and on your knees, now!"

Their suspect turned to them raising his hands. He kneeled down on the floor and they saw a huge smile on his face, "Too bad you didn't find me earlier," he taunted.

"You bxxxxxd," Megan swore angrily at him as she cuffed him hands securely behind his back and hefted him to his feet.

"That's me," he laughed, "but Charlie knew me as Lexo. You should've seen his face when I told him I was going to sell him."

"You have the right to remain silent…" Megan read him his rights, but he ignored her and turned to Colby, "You and your friend Don should've found my sister! You let them make her kill herself," he screamed, tears were now flowing down his face, but he found no sympathy in the faces of the agents.

"And what did you do about it. You forced the ordeal on an innocent man," Colby stared at him stonily.


	11. Where is he?

A/N: I'm going to try really hard to finish this before Christmas vacation! I think there is going to be two more chapters after this. Maybe three, I hope this chap keeps you on the edge of your seats! It's supposed to.

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Charlie typed furiously at the laptop, asking Jordan a couple of questions every few minutes and from Todd's point of view it looked like Charlie had learned his painful lesson. Todd smiled evilly remembering his plans for the FBI building.

Reluctantly, Charlie folded the top down on the laptop and Todd, who'd been watching the last couple of minutes, took it from him, "Knew you'd see it my way." He chuckled.

Charlie lifted his head and looked at him with tortured eyes; he opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it. He pulled himself up from the chair and away from the desk to sit on a mattress with Jordan, who wrapped a friendly arm around him.

"Isn't that sweet?" Todd laughed sarcastically, "Are you two hungry?"

"Yeah… sir," Charlie whispered and Jordan nodded. They heard Todd call out to someone who was in another room as he left.

"Do you think he's actually going to give us food? Or is he just taunting us?" Charlie asked, too used to Lexo taunting him with water and food.

"Of course, he's going to need us alive you know," Jordan assured him.

"I know I'm just sooo hungry. The only thing I've eaten in days is a dinner roll," Charlie told her as his stomach grumbled loudly.

"Don't expect a three course meal," she warned him, "If you complain he'll take it away."

"Figures," he replied tiredly.

The door opened and someone came in with two bowls of steaming soup, some bread and cheese. He put them on the desk before walking away without a word and slamming the door behind him.

"I thought you said we weren't getting a three course meal," Charlie joked sarcastically, but his heart wasn't really in it. His face lacked the smile of a real joker, "Wow…soup, bread and cheese! Can't you count?"

"Give it up Charlie," she snapped angrily, he hadn't lived off the stuff for six years, but he'd learn.

Charlie frowned and started dipping his bread into his soup. Hungrily he took a bite, savoring the taste.

Jordan ate fairly quickly and watched him in disbelief, "How can you eat so slowly after being deprived for so long?"

"The slower I eat, the longer it lasts," he answered her simply as he took a small bite of cheese.

The food satisfied his stomach and he walked around the room a couple times to exercise a little.

"All we can do now is wait," Jordan thought out loud.

Charlie lied down on one of the mattresses, "Wake me up in an hour or two. I just want a quick nap."

Jordan nodded silently and looked out the window of their prison, _Are we ever going to get out of here? _She wondered to herself.

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"Where is he?" Don questioned the man in front of him.

"Who do you mean? Charlie? I'm not telling," Lawrence put his feet up on the desk with a smug smile.

"Mr. Nevence…" Don trailed off angrily, staring at the man who had started the whole thing, "Everything will be much easier for you if you help us find him." Don paced back and forth in front of him.

"You keep saying 'he' or 'him'," Lawrence observed lazily, "Do you think if you say his name, it'll all be real? Agent Eppes… News flash, it's too late, it's already real."

Don sat down across from Lawrence, "Mr. Nevence-"

Lawrence cut him off, "Call me Lexo."

"Lexo," Don said purposely, "What is it going to take for you to tell us where _Charlie_ is?"

"First admit it's your fault what happened to Lexa and tell me how your brother being at the mercy of ruthless terrorists makes you feel. Then maybe I'll give you a hint," Lexo glared at him with the hint of a smirk on his face.

"I shoulda been there sooner, I wish I had been," Don told him honestly, "Not just for Charlie, but for your sister and your father and…for you."

"Like you care what happens to me," Lexo cut in contemptuously, "anyway, answer my second question." Lexo saw something cross over the agent's face.

"How did you feel when your sister was missing?" Don turned the question around.

"This isn't about me!" Lexo screamed at him, "This is about you!"

"This has always been about you, about your need for revenge," Don replied calmly.

"I guess you don't want to find your brother," Lexo snapped.

"It makes me feel guilty, worried, helpless and unbelievably angry!" Don spat out the words difficultly, "Now where is my brother?"

"Not telling," Lexo repeated evilly.

Don put a file on the table that contained pictures, he spread out pictures of Lexo onto the table in front of him, "Do you think this is what she wanted, someone else to have to go through this?" He jabbed at a particularly gruesome picture.

Lexo turned his head away, tears welling up in his eyes, "Stop! I'm not telling you!"

Don picked up a different set of pictures and showed them to Lexo, it was Don and Charlie playing together as children and one of Charlie and his mother together, "You're taking a son from his father, a little brother from his older brother," he threw a picture of Charlie's class on the table, "a teacher from his students and…" Don trailed off as he threw the last picture on the table, "a man from someone he loves and who loves him back," the picture was Amita smiling into the camera.

"Okay," Lexo whispered, "I'll tell you. He's at 4764 Hodeff Street, it's a big abandoned warehouse. Get him back, I'm sorry."

"So am I," Don replied as he left in a brisk jog. He ran out and called, "Terry!" A thick fog surrounded him and he tried desperately not to breathe in. Black spots invaded his vision and he felt himself fall to the ground.

He vaguely heard Lexo struggling in his handcuffs, "Agent Eppes, what's going on?" he heard Lexo yell.

Don coughed weakly and lost consciousness.

"_Charlie where are you?" He yelled into the infinite blackness._

"_Donnie! Over here! Help me, save me!" he heard his younger brother yell desperately._

"_I'm coming Charlie! Hold on!" Don called to him, "I just need to find you!"_

"_Hurry Donnie!" a small cry came._

"_I'm coming Charlie!" Don bellowed and suddenly the blackness lifted. Charlie lay on the ground, not breathing._

"_Charlie…" Don whispered sadly, but no answer came from the still man, "Noooooooooo!" Tears seeped through his eyelids as he hugged his dead brother, "no."_

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Jordan looked at her watch, two hours had past, but she couldn't bear to wake him. He looked so peaceful, different from how she usually saw him. She just hoped their plan had worked.

Charlie turned over on the mattress mumbling in his sleep, "The ratio is 9:1 class, can you tell me how I got that answer?"

Jordan smiled slightly; at least he could live his old life in his sleep. She watched the mathematician sleep and sighed, maybe later she'd take a nap too. But not yet, too much was going on for both of them to sleep.

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Don opened his eyes tiredly, all of his limbs ached, and he lifted himself onto his shoulder to look around. All the other agents were just waking up as well and Lexo was groaning loudly.

"What happened?" He asked David who lay beside him; he probably was trying to aid Don when he fell unconscious.

"I dunno, I saw all of you on the floor when I came in and tried to help, but…" David trailed off.

"I think it's a failed terrorist attack," Terry interrupted from a few feet away. She was the first of the agents on her feet and was holding a small canister.

"I'll get one of the techs to look at it," David said as he stood up himself. The other agents followed him. Terry held the canister gingerly and Don racked his brain, _what am I forgetting?_

"By the looks of it, it was meant to kill, but a chemical used in the making of the can diffused it, only causing loss of consciousness," The tech told them, he'd been in another room and hadn't been exposed to it.

"Oh my god!" Don exclaimed, remembering how Lexo revealed Charlie's whereabouts, "I know where Charlie is!" He ran towards the doors.

"Well then let's go!" Terry replied and ran after him. Soon Megan, David, Terry and Colby were all on their way to save the missing mathematician.

Lexo was still in his chair that had tipped over during the attack, "Anyone want to help me up?" He called to them. They ignored him and another random agent righted the chair.

"I won't be too late Charlie, I promise," Don whispered aloud,


	12. Take Me Instead

A/N: Hello I'm back and ready to give you what might be the second last chapter. Oh yah! I'm so happy I got so many reviews for this story! I'm glad people like it, if they didn't I'd be sad and revert to writing CSI stories for the rest of my life. But people like it and I'm going to continue writing Numb3rs fanfiction because I just love Charlie and Don. Ah I have this really hard tech project. I have to design my own computer and this is my worst class. AHHHHHH! Anyway there's the twelfth chapter. Ireally hope you like it.

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Todd swung open the door in a violent rage, "You little fxxk! You tricked me!" He screamed as he advanced on a groggy Charlie, startling him from his restless doze.

"Huh?" Charlie wiped the sleep from his eyes. He saw Todd's red face and struggled to sit up. He knew that Todd had figured out what he and Jordan had done.

"It was my idea! Leave him alone!" Jordan yelled, she knew she could take any beating Todd could dish out from experience. She also knew that Todd loved to beat anyone who was new. He took a particular interest in causing people pain.

Todd glanced at her in passing, but ignored her. Charlie backed up into the corner and his eyes darted from place to place, but there was no where for him to go. Todd wrapped his fingers around Charlie's throat and squeezed it tightly.

Charlie struggled desperately to breathe in, rasping difficultly. His vision started going red and then it started to fade to black. Suddenly a gush of oxygen was allowed to enter his lungs and the fingers relinquished their hold on him. However, Todd was no where near done. He knew it and Todd knew it too.

Charlie's vision cleared and he felt Todd grab his wrist and twist it painfully, "Please, stop it," he pleaded just before he heard it crack. He screamed out as agony shot up and down his arm. He cradled it close to his body with his other hand.

"Get me a baseball bat!" Todd ordered and almost immediately he had a wooden one in his hand. He brought it down brutally on Charlie's torso, a scream echoed through the air as Charlie curled into a ball to protect himself.

Jordan watched with unbelievable horror and the knowledge that she was next. Never before had Todd beaten anyone with anything other than his fists. She was being held back in a painfully firm grip, but she knew it was nothing compared to what her friend was going through.

He felt the bat battering him and he desperately wished it would all end. He thought he heard a distant yell, "Charlie! I'm here! I'm coming," but he didn't dare to believe it.

He heard the bat clatter to the ground and an arm wrapped round his torso painfully lifting him up, "Don't move!" He heard Todd yell to someone else as a round cold piece of metal, a gun, was pressed against his skull, "or I'll blow '_little brother'_ away."

Charlie realized that Don _was_ there, Don had found him! "Donnie!" He tried to yell, but it came out as a dry squeak, "Help."

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Don didn't know what to expect as he ran into the warehouse with his team, but he didn't expect what he saw. The man from one of Tommy's sketches was beating Charlie with a baseball bat.

"Charlie! I'm here! I'm coming!" He screamed as he ran forward, he noticed that Charlie didn't acknowledge him. Was it punishment for not finding him sooner? Or was he just too preoccupied with pain?

It seemed as though everything was in slow motion, the bat fell and Don felt an invisible force keep him from continuing his mad dash forward. He watched as Charlie was hauled to his feet and the barrel of a handgun was pressed firmly to his temple.

"Don't Move!" The man ordered menacingly. Don noticed that Charlie's eyes were glued to the floor, "Or I'll blow _'little brother'_ away," Todd's words were calm and icily cold.

Don watched as Charlie raised his red rimmed eyes to his and rasped disbelievingly, "Donnie!" The tortured sound of his brother's voice tore his heart out and ripped it to pieces as he finished, "Help."

"Let him go," Don said slowly.

"What if I don't want to?" Todd asked as he raised his brow.

A woman was being held a short ways away and Don made a decision that would've been difficult for anyone else, "Listen, let them go. Take me as your hostage. I'm an FBI agent, they'll leave you alone if your negotiating with my life," it was the easiest thing in the world for Don, as long as he got Charlie somewhere safe, he didn't care what happened to him.

"Sounds good to me," Todd lied, he was planning to take Don as an additional hostage instead.

"Ok, let Charlie go then," Don told him, "And her." He pointed to Jordan.

"I'll let them go as soon as your over here, I promise, " Todd bargained.

Don narrowed his eyes, a promise wasn't a guarantee, it was a way to trick him into thinking Todd was telling the truth. People only said that when what they were saying didn't sound credible in their own ears, "Ok," he answered in a shaky voice as he stepped forward.

"Don't Don, please," Charlie begged in a whisper, he wanted out, but not at the sacrifice of his brother, "Don't do it Donnie."

"What are you doing!" Terry asked angrily, she didn't want Don to put himself in that position.

"I know what I'm doing," Don snapped angrily at the both of them, but more Terry than Charlie.

"And what is that?" She replied in an equally angry voice.

"Saving Charlie," he whispered and walked purposely toward the terrorist. He only expected the two men to be there and was surprised when a third grabbed him roughly, "huh?"

"I lied," Todd smiled smugly and his man took Don's gun and handcuff's away from him.

"I knew that," Don said. Megan, Colby, Terry and David weren't sure what to do. They couldn't risk a shootout because they might hit Don, Charlie or the woman.

The man was about to use Don's cuffs to secure Don's hands behind his back, but Don elbowed him in the stomach and broke away.

Don tackled Todd before the terrorist had time to react, being careful not to tackle his brother at the same time. They wrestled on the floor and Todd came out on top, pointing his gun triumphantly at Don's head. Don's arms were pinned down by Todd's knees and he was helpless to move. He watched in horror as Todd fondled the trigger and Don closed his eyes as it was pulled.

_Bang!_

Don felt an immense weight on him, _Am I dead?_ He wondered. Slowly the weight was pulled off of him and he opened his eyes. Todd lay dead beside him. Colby had pulled the man off of him and Don turned his head to see Terry wearily holstering her gun after the fatal shot.

"Don, are you okay?" David asked as he leaned over the other agent.

"I'm fine, how's Charlie?" Don questioned anxiously as he pushed himself up. He saw the other two men being arrested by Megan and Terry.

"I dunno, the ambulance is on its way," David answered carefully.

Don went over to his fallen brother and knelt over him, "Charlie…" but no answer came, "C'mon Buddy, wake up."

"He hit his head on the way down," an unfamiliar voice told him, Don looked up at the woman that had been a hostage with Charlie.

"Oh," Don replied, "Where's the other hostage? Mike?"

"Dead," she answered shortly.

Sirens appeared and the paramedics took Charlie from him, he went to follow them into the ambulance and saw the woman being loaded into another. Don climbed into the ambulance and took Charlie's hand gently in his own, "I'm here Buddy. I'll take care of everything and all you have to do is hold on."

He squeezed Charlie's hand gently and was sure he felt Charlie squeeze weakly back. He sat there in silence as Charlie's other hand was splinted for a break and bandages were wrapped round his ribs.

"I'm so sorry, Buddy," he whispered sadly.


	13. It Happened in His Mind

A/N: Here's chap 13. This is dedicated to everyone who reads my story! I love you all! Anyway I hope you liked the story! Chapters will be WAY shorter, but I will update faster as well. I'm sorry for any inconvenience with the much shorter chapters. Also there will be more chapters then I expected.

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"Is he going to be okay?" Don asked the doctor worriedly. He sat next to his brother's still form.

"Your brother has a fractured shoulder, the Acromion to be specific, and bruised ribs. Something hit him hard in an upward motion. He also has a spiral fracture in his wrist" Dr. Garson explained calmly.

"A baseball bat," Don seethed angrily through his clenched teeth.

"That would do it," he acknowledged with a grim smile, "We set his shoulder with a pressure bandage and a sling," he pointed to the injured area, "He also has a skull fracture. We can't be sure the full extent of the damage until he wakes up."

"Okay…" Don trailed off as the doctor walked out of the room. Silently he sat on the chair at his brother's bedside, "Hey buddy, I-I'm sorry I let this happen to you."

He prayed Charlie would answer him, but only his rhythmic breathing greeted him.

"Don?" Don whipped his head toward the door and saw his father standing in the doorway.

"Hey Dad," Don acknowledged quietly, "I'm sor-"

"Not your fault Don," his father told him simply, as he entered Charlie's hospital room.

"Where's Tommy?" Don asked, changing the subject abruptly.

"He's in the waiting room. You think Charlie will want to see him when he wakes up?"

"Charlie thinks he's dead," Don reminded his father as he took Charlie's limp hand in his own.

"All the better for Charlie to see him," Alan answered seriously.

"Get him off me!" A scream interrupted the conversation as Charlie abruptly began to flail around in the hospital bed.

Don looked urgently at his father who immediately pressed the call button. "Get who off you? Buddy, what's wrong?"

"No! Get off me, please just leave me alone," Charlie's eyes were wide and slightly glazed, but the fear within them was clear for Don and Alan to see. Don clasped his brother's hand tighter in an attempt to comfort him. The look in his brother's eyes would haunt him for the rest of his life. Charlie was not supposed to have to feel that kind of fear or horror.

"There's no one here but me and your brother..." Alan tried to sooth his youngest son in a soft voice.

Tears peeked through Charlie's eyelids as he pressed them together tightly, "They killed Tommy...GET OFF ME! Please…jus-just leave me alone!"

The doctor came in brandishing a needle and Charlie's screams intensified in pitch and volume at the sight of it. Quickly the doctor injected the drug into Charlie's IV and the effects were nearly immediate. Charlie's eyes drooped slowly and drifted off into a fitful sleep.

"What's going on?" Alan demanded an answer from the doctor.

"Often hallucinations are a side effect of a skull fracture. The hallucinations vary from person to person. Sometimes an underlying fear, and sometimes it's completely irrational," Dr. Garson explained, "From the sounds of it, your son is reliving an experience, but the details have changed in the hallucination to make it even more horrifying."

Charlie murmured slightly in his drug induced sleep, a small word slipped out of his mouth pleadingly, "no…" and then he was silent again.

"Oh god..." Don closed his eyes slowly as he realized what Charlie's hallucination must've been, "You did an exam right? You know a..." he dropped his voice into a whisper and grimaced as he said the words, "Sexual Assault Exam?"

"There were no signs of sexual assault," Dr. Garson informed him and Don let out a sigh of relief.

"Does he think that he was, because of the fracture?" Alan ventured painfully. He was glad his youngest hadn't been raped, but if Charlie thought he had been, it was nearly as bad.

"That's very possible," the doctor told them grimly, "I'm thinking soft restraints may be necessary until the hallucinations cease. Considering the shape his wrists are in, I'm hoping it won't come to that. Also it is very possible it may remind him of when he was restrained during his abduction."

"That would _not _be a good thing," Don commented with a grimace, "Can you avoid restraining him, even if it's soft restraints?"

Dr. Garson hesitated, but relented, realizing it was probably best for his patient's emotional well-being, "At the first sign of violence toward others or himself or if he tries to get out of the bed, we'll have to restrain him. Otherwise, I think we can refrain from it."

Don let out a small appreciative sigh; glad Charlie had an understanding doctor, "How long is he going to be out?"

"I only gave him a slight sedative, so anywhere between three to four hours depending on Dr. Eppes," Dr. Garson informed him.

"Is there anything we can do, to keep him calm when he awakens?" Alan asked with fatherly concern that was definitely well placed.

"The best you can do is talk to him, be there for him," Dr. Garson told them seriously, "Try to find a way to counteract his hallucinations. Prove to him they aren't real."

Don nodded as the doctor walked quickly out of the room and could swear Dr. Garson had taken a psychology class at some point. He seemed to know a lot about the emotions involved with patients who'd experienced trauma.

He settled into his chair as comfortably as he could and squeezed Charlie's hand again gently. His brother was away from Lexo, the prostitution/slave ring and from the terrorists, but he was still there in his mind. Even though Alex and Todd were dead and Lexo in custody, but his brother was still very much in their clutches.

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I know this is like way shorter, but my writer's block is like major right now. I hope the next one will be a little longer. Please be constructive in your reviews and try not to comment on the shortness, because I already know about it and am sorry for it.


	14. Dr Walter Garson

A/N: Someone gave me a review that gave me an idea to make this storya littlelonger. I'm thinking I'm going to take my reveiwer's advice. I have no idea when this is going to finish, I really don't know. It depends where the story takes me. Well here is the next chapter.

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"Their alive!" Jordan exclaimed in disbelief at the FBI agent.

"Very much so," Megan smiled at the young woman, glad to be able to give out some good news that day. She was slightly surprised though, when Jordan hugged her tightly as she wept with joy.

"My baby boy, Seth is alive and Barry too. Oh my god," the feeling of happiness inside Jordan was so extreme. Her son and her husband she thought were dead, were alive and breathing, all she had to do now was get to Florida to see them again.

"Yes and your husband, when notified of your rescue, bought you a plane ticket. Your flight is tonight, Jordan," Megan informed her as Jordan pulled out of the hug.

"Can I say goodbye to Charlie first?" Jordan had no idea of his condition.

"He's not up to visitors that aren't family right now," Megan avoided telling her about Charlie's hallucinations.

"Oh..." She sounded a little disappointed, but didn't push it. She could always give Charlie a call when he was better, she wanted the best for her new friend.

Megan handed her the ticket and Jordan took it quietly. It would be a long wait until her flight, but she'd waited six years for this, what was a couple hours?

"Thank you," Jordan told the agent, gratification reflected in her eyes.

"It was my pleasure," Megan replied honestly, at least there was a happy ending for Jordan. Now she could only hope that there'd be one for Charlie and Don as well.

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"PLEASE!No..." the familiar screams echoed throught the hallway. Charlie shook in the hospital bed, but never lashed out. The hallucination that troubled him was too horrifying to allow him too, "Oh god...he's dead!"

Alan looked to his elder son with agreat amount of grieef in his eyes, he couldn't stand to see one of his son's suffer.

"Maybe we should get Tommy to talk to him." Don said, it was more of a suggestion than a question.

Alan looked to Dr. Garson for reassurance, hoping that maybe it would ease Charlie's pain.

"That might help," the doctor informed them, "Many people will only believe what they're hallucinating in fake with the proof right in front of them.

Don nodded and left the hospital room for a moment, returning with the teenager on his heel.

"What do I do?" Tommy asked, looking up and Alan, he wanted to help, but wasn't sure how he could.

"Just talk to him Tommy. Let him know you're okay," Alan told the boy and placed a hand gently on his shoulder.

Pausing for only a moment at the contact, Tommy nodded and began, "Hey Charlie...ummm...It's Tommy. I'm alright you know. Sam...he saved me. You can't really believe I'm dead, I'm talking to you aren't I?"

The screams stopped, but the shaking didn't, "Tommy..." Charlie whispered the name in relief.

"Yeah, Charlie, it's me I'm here. I'm fine," Tommy reassured him the best he could and placed a hand on Charlie's arm, "See...I'm okay."

There was no answer, Charlie had fell back out of conciousness, but he seemed just a little more at ease.

Charlie's concern for his well-being touched the young boy and a tear slid quietly down his cheek.

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After hours of fighting the haze and slipping in and out of conciousness, two deep brown eyes opened difficultly. Distantly, he remembered Tommy speaking to him, Tommy was alive... But he didn't have long to think about the fact.

His eye lids were heavy from the effects of the drugs he'd been given. The first thing he noticed was the terrifyingly intense pain in his skull, it was nearly worse than the agony he endured because of the venom. From the looks of the room, he was in a hospital, reaching out with his uninjured arm, his finger connected lightly with the call button.

He tried desperately to keep his eyes open, afraid that if he closed them, he'd be transported back into his horror story. The vivid scenes replayed in his mind over and over, as he waited for a nurse or doctor, he could smell and feel the stench and weight of the man on top of him and he could still hear himself pleading for it to stop.

He could only hope it was a horrible nightmare, that none of it had really happened. He began to lose the fight to keep his eyes open, but a familair voice broke him out of it, a voice he wanted to forget, "Hey Charlie, so you've woken up finally."

Charlie was staring face to face with the only bidder who hadn't yet been killed, Walter Garson. He tried to scream, but found himself unable to, probably because of the pain inside his head. The injured professor could barely think straight and Walt knew it, "W-what...are...y-you...doing...h-h-h-h-here?"

"I'm your doctor Charlie," Walt smiled at him in twisted amusement, "Oh and go ahead and scream, no one will suspect what's going on, you've been screaming all day with your hallucinations and nightmares."

"Th-th-they were... only d-dreams?" Charlie was in a waking nightmare at the moment, but he wanted the scenes in his mind, to have happened only there, if it couldn't be not at all.

"Only dreams, my friend," Walt chuckled quietly, still smiling at the helpless man, "But you need to come with me now."

"I-I don't... w-w-want ...to," Charlie said, although he knew it would have no affect, pain had invaded his logic.

"I don't believe you have a choice," Walt stated as he began to unhook some of the machines, laughing at Charlie's weak attempts to stop him. After unhooking the machines, he all but lifted Charlie into a waiting wheelchair, causing pain to casade through the younger man's brain.

Moaning, Charlie slumped back in the wheelchair, though he didn't stop trying to fight off the other man. His good arm trying to push him away, but to no avail. He felt a sharp prick in his arm and slowly the pain faded into a dullish ache. Finally he could think, but all he could think was why Walt had given him something to ease the pain and almost as if reading his mind Walt spoke, "I can't have you moaning and groaning as we go down the hallway, can I? Screaming in your room is all right, but if they catch me wheeling you down the hallway screaming, then I'll have a slight problem. And don't worry about getting better, I'm a doctor and can _take care_ of you inside or outside the hospital."

Walt wheeled Charlie down the hallway of the ICU with no one getting in the way, Walt was grateful that the professor had decided to wake up at night and luckily for him, during a slow shift. As he passed the waiting room though, light, quiet, but audible footsteps were coming their way. Walt shoved the wheelchair and its occupant into the closest empy room, coming in behind. He clamped a hand over Charlie's mouth as he waited for the footsteps to fade.

Seeing his chance, Charlie did the one thing he could, he bit down on Walt's hand as hard as he could. He tasted the coppery blood in his mouth and was satisfied at Walt's loud yelp. The footsteps ceased momentarily and then burst into the room, Charlie's eyes widened as he saw Amita, apparently she had come to visit him.

Amita's own eyes were wide with shock as well and without even thinking, she bluffed, "FBI! Step away from him!"

Walt panicked pushing the wheelchair into the young woman, knocking her and Charlie together, then rushed down the hall without looking back.

"Oh god! Charlie... Charlie! Are you okay?" Amita cried out in concern as she distangled herself from him and sat him up properly in the wheelchair.

"I think...I'm dreaming. You're so beautiful..." his eyes closed dreamily with a small smile glued to his face.

"Charlie..." Amita saw his chest rise and fall almost peacefully and breathed a sigh of relief.

"What _is _going on here?" A nurse appeared in the hallway, along with a security guard.

Amita looked up and stuttered slightly, "I-I can explain. You see I came to visit him," she pointed at Charlie, "and this doctor was trying to kidnap him and.." but the guard stopped her and grabbed her arm.

"I'm sure you can, let's go," he pulled her roughly to her feet.

The nurse attended to Charlie, "Damn it, there's blood in his mouth. Looks like she attacked him."

"It's the doctor's that tried to take him," Amita tried to tell them what happened, but they weren't listening. No doctor could do such a thing in their minds.

"Probably an escapee from the upstairs ward," the guard looked at Amita and gave her a fake smile, "C'mon, time to back upstairs. I'm sure your missed."

_Oh my god, they think I'm mental, _Amita realized to her horror, "No I don't belong there. He'll try to take Charlie again, please," tears formed in her eyes and then a thought occured to her, "Call Don Eppes, he'll tell you!"

"Don't worry we will," the guard said in a fake cheery voice as he partially dragged her towards the elevator.

"Please you don't understand," the tears that had formed fell down her cheeks and then a weak voice spoke up.

"Amita...don't leave... me..." Charlie whispered, not wanting to be alone, "But...call D-Don. I-I need...to see m-my brother..."

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Well there is chapter 14. I hope you like it. Please review and NO FLAMES!


	15. Dreams Never Come True, Nightmares Do

A/N: I'm sorry to say this, but updating may be extremely random due to the upcoming exams and my English project. I'll try my best to update every week, every two at the very most. I hope you like chapter 15 of my very first Numb3rs story. I hope it's good!

With love

From Me

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The guard looked from Amita to the patient, "Ummm...We may have made a terrible mistake," but he never let go of his firm grip on her arm.

"You have made a mistake. My name is Amita Ramanujuan, please, I am NOT a mental patient. I have my ID in my pocket, just let me take it out and show you," Amita's voice was slightly exasperated from arguing with the two hospital personal.

The guard eyed her suspiciously as the nurse began to wheel Charlie away, "A-mita? Charlie called out weakly. This seemed to be enough confirmation for the security guard and he let go of her, allowing Amita to pull out her ID.

Taking a look the guard apologized, "Very sorry Miss. You can go ahead and visit your friend, he doesn't seem to want you to leave. As for calling Don Eppes, do you want me to call him and notify him of tonights events?"

Amita let out a tiny sigh of relief and nodded curtly, "Make sure to have someone guarding Charl-Dr.Eppes's room, until his brother gets here, just in case," she commented before whipping around and heading toward Charlie's room.

Walking in the door, she noticed the nurse was still there. Just in the process of helping Charlie back into his bed, "Miss?" the nurse asked warily.

Shaking her head, she just showed the nurse her ID and took a chair beside her friend's bed. His eyes were closed and it looked like he was in a peaceful slumber, "Hey Charlie..." she trailed off quietly as she took his uninjured hand and squeezed gently.

Charlie remained silent, but a small smile graced his lips as he squeezed back weakly.

A single tear traced its way down her cheek, hanging for a moment on her chin, before falling onto Charlie's hand. With her head leaned down, resting only inched above the bed, and Charlie's hand, she let the rest of the tears she'd been holding in during the kidnapping fall.

Quietly his hand was distangled from hers and she felt gentle, but weak fingers wipe away the moisture on her face, "Don't... cry...love...you," he whispered.

Amita quickly wiped the rest of her tears on her sleeves and took his hand again, "I love you too, Charlie. So don't you get into anymore trouble."

She rested her head on a empty space on the bed, _only going to rest my eyes for a minute, _she thought. Soon however, both of them were sleeping peacfully, her hand still clasped in his.

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_"It's too late Donnie! He's mine," an unknown shadow taunted him, pressing the barrel of the gun into his little brother's skull._

_"Just let him go," he pleaded, "I'll do anything you want."_

_"You can't do for me what he can," the dark clothed man reminded him._

_"Not again...Don, why?" Charlie's eyes were filled with betrayal, why hadn't his brother protected him?_

_"Please..."_

_"Back up, or he's gone," the man warned angrily._

_Don stood his ground, unwilling to leave his brother alone with a madman. Besides, he needed Charlie, he wouldn't kill him._

_"Bad boy, Donnie. Say goodbye to your baby bro," the man playfully squeezed the trigger, undermining his thoughts on the manand the sound of a gunshot rang thoughout the air._

_"CHARLIE!" Don ran to his brother and knelt beside him, lifted the younger man's head onto his lap, "Talk to me Buddy." The man in the shadows just smiled as he walked away, knowing Don would be too involved in trying to save his brother to chase him._

_"Why...Donnie, why didn't you protect me? Don't you love me?" The hurt in his brother's eyes scorched his heart and made it crumble into tiny pieces._

_"Of course I do, Buddy. Just hold on..." but he had no response. Charlie's eyes were closed, he was gone, "Oh god, Charlie! CHARLIE NO! WAKE UP BUDDY!"_

The ringing a of a cell phone ripped Don from his nightmare, "Eppes..." he answered quietly.

"This is Gary Fredrick, from the hospital. There has been an incident involving Dr. Charles Eppes-" but the security guard was cut off.

"No-" Don feared his nightmare had partially come true, that his brother was gone, "Oh god, is he okay?"

"One of the doctors tried to kidnap him, but a Miss Ramanujuan was able to stop him," the guard finished, "He's in his room resting at the moment."

Don let out a sigh of relief that Charlie was seemingly fine, "Is Amita okay too?"

"Miss Ramanjuan is with your brother and is perfectly fine," Don could tell there was some embarassment in his voice, but ignored it.

"And the doctor..."

"He got away," was the reply and Don hung up abruptly. He needed to get to the hospital as fast as possible. His dream was NOT going to become a reality, not if he had anything to do with it.

He jumped out of his bed at his brother's house, where he'd slept that night, not wanting to leave his father alone, and dressed quickly. Snatching his gun off the night table and holstering it, he wrote a short note to stick on the outside of his father's door.

_Gone to visit Charlie_

_Don_

The ride the hospital was unbearably long, minutes crawled by like hours until he finally got sight of the large building. Parking as close as he could to the hospital he leapt out of his car, locked it using his remote and jogged into the building, heading straight for Charlie's room.

What he saw there caught him slightly by surprise, but it was a pleasant surprise. Before him lay Charlie slumbering pleacefully, his hand intertwined with Amita's, and her head was resting on the bed, her eyes closed in sleep as well. Upon seeing this, he dismissed the guard he found at the door's entrance, he would protect his brother.

He sank into the nearest chair, not intending to fall alseep, but soon his own head bobbed downward, as he was lulled of to sleep by the sound of the machines monitoring his brother.

Hours passed and no one disturbed the occupants of the room, however, someone _was _watching them. Taking his chance, Walter Garson snuck into the room.

He closed the door behind him as quietly as he could, but still succeeding in waking the tired agent, but not before confiscating his weapon and stashing it in his pocket, "Huh? Oh Dr. Garson, here to check in on Charlie?" Don hadn't yet heard who the doctor had been, that attempted to take his brother from him again.

Dr. Garson nodded, not believing his luck and approached Charlie. Glancing back at the agent, just in case, he pulled out his pistol and placed it against Charlie's temple, "You weren't told who did it, were you?"

Don's eyes widened in shock, "W-what are you doing," the words flew out of his mouth.

Amita stirred groggily and lifted her head, just to see Walt hovering above her, with his gun aimed at the man she loved, "Oh no, not again," she made to lift the hand not entangled with Charlie's, but he stopped her.

"No no, pretty girl. You've caused me enough trouble already," he waved the gun in her direction, warning her that he would shoot her if nessecary, "Besides Charlie might need a little persuasion at some point. So you're coming with Charlie and I."

"No one is going anywhere," Don told him, reaching for his holster, but found it empty.

"Oh, but we are and there is nothing you can do to stop it," Walt reminded the agent of the fact, he was armed and Don wasn't.

"Don..." a small voice spoke up as the event woke Charlie from his sleep. His eyes traveled from Don, to Amita, and finally resting on Walt. He was now completely awake and could feel the familar coldness on his temple.

"It's too late, Donnie! He's mine," Walt taunted him, and Don winced, closing his eyes tightly. Dreams might not come true, but this last week, he found out, that nightmares certainly do.

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Well I hope you like chapter 15 and I can't help but keep going with this angst. I left you hanging again, of course. All hail me Queen of Cliffies!(Got that nickname in another fandom. P.S. I think I'm going to change my pen-name to that. Well please review, I love them soooooooo much! NO FLAMES!


	16. I'm Sorry

A/N: Here you go everyone. I hope you like this story. Wish me good luck on my exams! Some chaps will be short and some longer than the others. My internet is screwed up, so you probably won't get this until way after I'm writing this. I'm sorry but my internet hates me. I'm used to it! Hehe. My good friend from since forever is moving, waaahhh! She's moving to Garson, which is why I chose that for Walt's last name. The town is stealing my friend and the doctor is trying to steal Charlie. I played MASH today, for no reason except tech class is boring, and apparently I am going to have 2750 kids and live in an apartment. DOUBT IT!

I don't think this is one of my better chapters, but some nice reviews would help raise my esteem(hint hint)

Also this chapter, near the end, goes into Tommy's past a bit more and why he was in foster care and such. Warning it does contain mentions to self-harm. Enjoy!

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Chapter 16: I'm Sorry

"Listen Dr.Garson, whatever you want, you can have it, just let them go," Don tried to negotiate with the criminal. He'd been doing a lot of negoiating for Charlie's life lately.

"I have what I need, now I just have to get out of here with it," Walt smiled cruelly at the agent. Silently he pulled out a roll of thin, durable twine and pushed it into Amita's free hand and yanked her other one away from Charlie's, "Go tie up the _real_ FBI agent, nice and tight, pretty girl. I'll check and if you don't tie those knots good, I'll kill him and you."

Amita winced at the name the Doctor had given her, it made her sick to her stomach and she walked slowly over to where Don sat, unwilling to do what the man asked her. As she hesitated, the distinguished sound of the pistol being cocked. Realizing she had no choice, she began to bind Don to the chair, tight as not to get them killed, but not tight enough to make him too uncomfortable.

Being careful not to point the pistol away from Charlie for a moment, Walt checked the twine and was satisfied. Grabbing the excess twine, he bound Amita's hands behind her back and pushed her into a chair, binding her lightly to it. Just enough to keep her from getting out of the chair, but so he could easily untie her when he needed too.

Walt looked evilly at Charlie, who had remained silent the entire time, "Your turn Charlie," he motioned to the wheelchair that had been pushed off to the side. The nurse had never bothered to take it out of the room.

Don opened his mouth to speak, to distract Walt from his plan to kidnap his brother, but Walt just strode over and shoved a bundle of cloth into his mouth, silencing the agent.

Walt, grabbed Charlie under the armpits and hoisted him up, dropping him unceremoniously into the wheelchair, causing a slight moan to emit itself from the younger man's mouth.

"Feeling a little better Charlie?" Walt asked, mocking concern.

"I've had better weeks," Charlie muttered the obvious quietly. His voice took on a sarcastic tone, that was quite unlike himself, "How's your hand?"

That earned him a sharp slap to the side of the head, blackness surrounded his vision for a moment and his earlier pain came rushing back. Not that it had ever disappeared, only faded to a dull ache.

Walt pointed the gun at the bound agent, causing Charlie to call out, "No! Don't, I'm sorry," apologizing in hope of saving his brother's life.

The pain began to subside as Charlie looked into his brother's eyes, they were full of worry. What tore at Charlie was that Don wasn't worried about his own life, but the life of the one who was about to get him killed.

Walt fingered the trigger in a taunting motion, and began to pull back, "OH GOD NO!" Charlie's scream echoed through the air, he winced at the sound of his own loud voice.

"DAMN YOU!" Walt bellowed at the mathematician, causing him to flinch, "Someone probably heard that!" The gun swung away from Don and leveled itself in front of Charlie's face.

"Just don't kill him," Charlie begged the doctor, his eyes shining with tears.

With Walt's attention away from him, Don silently worked on the knots, trying to find a weak spot, knowing that Amita was smart enough to hide one.

He was able to get the the knots loosened somewhat, but not quite enough to escape.

"I might not have a choice now," Walt's eyes flashed with anger, his plan was about to go down the drain. He looked down at the gun he had aimed at Charlie, "Any minute the nurses are going to come running down here, see us and call the police. I'm afraid my only choice is to kill all of you." He lowered his gun and pulled out Don's and pointed it at Charlie, "I'm going to kill him with your gun Don, it'll be the same as if you're killing him. You failed to protect him countless times and now your failure will kill him."

Don was unable to answer, he could only skwirm in what seemed to be discomfort, but he kept loosening the twine. He had to get out, his baby brother was depending on it. His dream would _not _come true, he wouldn't let it.

Charlie's eyes were still filled with tears, it was all his fault, he had yelled, now in no more than a mintue, they'd all be dead. He locked eyes with Amita and mouth _I'm sorry._ She only shook her head, and Charlie turned his gaze to the floor.

Amita didn't understand why Charlie was sorry, it wasn't his fault, the only blame laid on Walt. The only blame was on the man holding the gun, the ruthless and greedy killer.

Walt's finger rested on the trigger for a split second and pulled. Charlie grabbed the side of the bed and pulled himself off the chair, and onto the floor as quickly as he could and at that same moment, Don broke free and was on Walt in no more than a second.

It is impossible to outrun a bullet, and Charlie wasn't even able to run. He had no time to completely dodge the projectile, it found it's target as it grazed the side of Charlie's head. The agony that erupted in his skull lasted for only seconds before an evil cloud of darkness shrowded him.

The door swung open and David stood there, gun aimed at Walt, he threw Don a set of handcuffs and in a moment Walt was cuffed to the chair Don had previously occupied.

Don's eyes immediately searched for Charlie, when they found him, they widened in disbelief. He lay motionless on the floor, a puddle of blood around his head, eyes closed.

"No," the word softly escaped his lips and Don bolted from the room. He hadn't protected him, and now he was gone, his nightmare became a reality.

He heard Walt's insane laughter all the way down the hall. The laughter, he knew would keep him awake for years to come, as would the fact he caused his baby brother's death.

The hallway seemes miles long, until finally reached the front doors. Out in the parking lot, his world seemed to swirl around him, making him dizzy. What he saw in the parking lot made him want to cry, his father had just arrived, bringing the young boy with him.

"Don? What are you doing out here?" Alan's confused voice reached his ears.

"I'm sorry," was all Don had the strength to say, "I'm so sorry," he stumbled slightly, but caught himself. Wasting no time, he got into his car and sped off. He had someone esle to apologize to.

NUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMBS3RNUMB3RS

Alan didn't know what to think of his eldest son's behavious as he watched the car drive away, he hoped it wasn't the thought that had been running through his mind for days now.

As he walked in, Tommy at his heel, an young man held the door for them, "Thank you."

"No problem," he replied, and then with a look at Tommy he added in a whisper, "Good luck."

Tommy gave her a slight grin and followed Alan into the building, but in his mind he worrried about Don's reaction when they arrived, obviously something had happened to shake the agent. That scared the teenager, he didn't think anything could shake Don. Don had been a pillar of strength ever since he first met Charlie's older brother.

The duo walked the familiar hallway to Charlie's room, peaking inside it, Tommy saw the blood stained floor underneath the hospital bed, _this was what had shaken Don, _was all he could think. He willed the tears in his eyes not to fall, but he had no control over them, so he glued his eyes to the tiles on the floor. Something lightly brushed the moisture away and he looked up to find a young dark haired woman standing in front of him, looking at him with sympathetic eyes "It's okay, Charlie's fine," the woman gave Alan a significant look as well.

"Where is he, Amita?" Alan asked, revealing the woman's name to the boy.

"The next room over, one of the 'bidders' came back," Amita explained with a grimace.

It was then Tommy noted the redness around her wrists, "You were there weren't you?" He asked quietly, his voice a little bit hoarse.

Amita nodded, glancing at her wrists and pulling the sleeve of her sweater down to hide the raw mark, "Yeah... you're very observant. Looks like we have another FBI agent in the making," she forced a chuckle, but the look in her eyes told them she wasn't in the mood to joke.

The boy shrugged lightly and gave Alan a questioning look, "Can I see Charlie?" He asked quietly, returning his eyes to the floor in shame. In his months as a captive, he had learned not to do anything without permission, it had been literally pounded into his head.

Alan placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Of course you can," he told Tommy and followed him into Charlie's new hospital room.

His head was wrapped in even more bandages than before, but other than that, he was no different. His sleep was nowhere near peaceful, he muttered in his sleep, repeating the same words over and over, "Just please don't kill him."

Tommy's heart went out to him, ever since he had met Charlie, the man had been like family to him, a brother even. He wished that he could be part of a family that loved eachother as much as the Eppes family loved eachother. Ever since he was a baby his parents had fought, one fight had gone so out of hand, that his older brother, Joesph had been killed by his father. He had been eight at the time and Joe eleven, his father was sent to jail for abused, murder and child neglect and his mother deemed unsuitable for custody by the state. Foster-care had been his only option.

For years, Tommy had been afraid to let anyone inside his heart. His only solace was his self-inflicted pain, numerous scars ran across his wrists and thighs and the only reason he had stopped, was because Alex had never given him anything suitable to harm himself with. Now, only as he watched the person he let into his heart, in so much pain, did the urge come back. He fought the urge inside his mind angrily and turned to leave the room, on order to find a sharp implement, when the voice came to him _Don't do it Tommy-boy, I don't want you to hurt yourself, and Charlie wouldn't either. _Joe's voice had pushed its way into his mind.

Tommy stopped, his decision made, he would be strong. He would prove his father wrong and be there for the people he cared about. Maybe someday, he too would have a family that loved him as much as Charlie's family loved him.

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There's chapter sixteen and I've already started on chapter seventeen. I hope you enjoyed. NOW PRESS THE PURPLE BUTTON AND REVIEW! Thank you!

P.S. My internet HATES ME!

P.P.S. NO FLAMES!


	17. Forgiven

A/N: The last chap is finally here! Now I hope you like the way I'm ending this, but if you don't well...I don't care. Well if they are like two people who don't like it, I don't care, if nobody likes the ending I'll sulk for a few days and get over it. Hehe. (Warning: Ending is fluffy!)

_Dedication: This fanfic is dedicated in loving memory of my cousin Jamie Lee Peterson. _

_( x tears x) _

_(I miss you!)_

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Chapter 17

Don sat in front of the gravestone for a long time, just staring at his mother's name, her date of death, the inscription _Loving Wife and Proud Mother. Rest in Peace Always._ He remembered the promise he'd made to her so long ago, to protect Charlie from any danger that he could prevent. He could've prevented this, or could he have? He hadn't even seen it coming. The events of the last week seemed so unreal, first Charlie had been taken, sold, rescued and nearly taken again twice. Now he was gone forever, his baby brother had joined the angels in the sky. Charlie was with his mother once again, painting rainbows and numbering the stars.

Dawn approached rapidly, but his tired eyes didn't care. The need to sleep overwhelmed him and chirping birds sang him to sleep.

_White satin fluttered in front of him, and he looked up. Not believing his eyes, "Mom?"_

_"Donnie, my son, my baby" Margaret smiled down at her kneeling son. Taking his hand and pulling him gently to his feet._

_The vividness took Don's breath away. It was only a dream, wasn't it? Why did everything seem so real?_

_"I'm glad you came to visit me, but you can't stay too long," her content smile seemed to brighten everything around her._

_"I'm sorry mom. I let you down, I couldn't protect him. Charlie's dead," sobs escaped him as tears fought to leave his eyes and he found himself in her tender embrace._

_"You could never let me down, Donnie," Margaret assured him as he broke away, feeling unworthy to be able to see her again._

_"Don?" The voice startled him and he turned abruptly on the dew soaked grass._

_"Charlie? Oh my god, you really are dead..." Don turned his eyes away, it was the proof he failed them all. He failed his mother, father, Tommy and worst of all he failed Charlie, and he was dead because of it._

_"No, actually I'm not," Charlie smiled slightly, "Just visiting, like you. But Don, I need you at the hospital with me. I want to wake up, I need you to help me."_

_It took a moment for the realization to hit him, Charlie wasn't dead, "I'll be there," Don told him, "I'll never let you down again."_

_"You never did," Charlie answered simply, the smile graced his face once again, "I'll just hang out with Mom until you get there."_

_A young boy walked into the dream/vision, "You're Don, right?" He asked quietly, he looked so much like Tommy it was uncanny._

_"Yeah," Don didn't know what else to say, this boy seemed to know him. Was he part of Tommy's family?_

_"I'm Joe, Tommy's older brother...or I was," the boy told him, "Can you do me a favor, make sure he doesn't hurt himself. Take care of him, he's seen way too much," a tear silently flowed down his cheek, "Give him a family," the boy begged. He needed to see his little brother happy to be at peace. Don knew the feeling, he'd give the child his wish._

_Don nodded and turned to his mother, "Mom, I love you. I miss you," she gathered him in her embraced once again and this time Charlie and Joe joined in._

_­_He could still feel their arms around him as he opened his eyes. He glanced at his watch, he hadn't been asleep too long. He'd wasted too much time already, Charlie was waiting for him.

He picked himself off the ground, in almost no time at all he was in his SUV and on his way to the hospital. Maybe for once, the dream would be true and not the nightmare.

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The dream may have been his imagination, but Charlie was, by some miracle, alive. Don planted himself in the chair beside his brother's bed, opposite the side that Tommy and Alan sat by. Taking his younger brother's hand he whispered, "I'm here Buddy, just like you wanted me to be." He looked up apologetically at the other two occupants of the room, sorry for rushing out before anything was confirmed. He already knew he had been forgiven because of the short conversation he'd had with his father.

_"It's okay Don, you didn't know and you were upset," Alan reassured his eldest._

_"I shouldn't of- I..." Don struggled for the words that would show the guilt he felt for leaving his brother,_

_Alan gave his son a brief hug, "Tommy doesn't blame you, neither do I, and I'm absolutely sure that Charlie doesn't and will not blame you."_

_Don gave his father a small smile._

Amita re-entered the room, interupting the memory and took a seat beside Don as the four of them waited for Charlie to awaken, no matter how long it would take. The awkward silence was broken when Don brought up Walt.

"Amita...he didn't get away again...did he?" He asked, worry evident in his voice. He knew it was unlikely, but with the events of the past week, nothing would surprise him.

"No, he's off to jail," Amita replied uncomfortably, still feeling a little blame for tying up the agent earlier.

"Good, he's the one to blame for this, not me or you, or Charlie," Don told her, sensing her guilt and he eased his own at the same time.

"I guess I know that, I just wish I could've done more," Amita turned her eyes to Charlie's still form. He looked like he was restingly peacefully, except for the cast, sling and bandages.

Charlie's eyelids fluttered for a moment and slowly opened, "Hey guys..." he said difficultly.

"Hey Buddy, how you doing?" Don asked gently.

"Just trying to maintain consciousness," Charlie joked slighlty and Tommy sniggered at the song reference.

Don looked at Charlie confused and Alan's look matched his as Amita started chuckling too, "What was that about?" Don asked raising an eyebrow.

"It's a song about being lazy, bored and having a zero second attention span," Tommy piped up.

"That doesn't sound like Charlie at all, he get immersed in stuff all the time," Don commented.

"No, but spend any time with me and you'll get it," Tommy chuckled, sounding like a normal teenager and even though Don still didn't undertsand the joke, he was glad the boy was able to laugh.

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**A month later:**

Nervously Charlie fidgeted outside the visiting room of the L.A. federal prison, two weeks ago a letter had come in the mail from the criminal, requesting a meeting.

"You don't have to do this you know," Amita put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"I know, it's just something I need to do. Thanks for agreeing to come with me," the door opened to the visiting room just then and they watched as Lexo was led in from the other side. Charlie reached for Amita's hand and squeezed it gently as the two of them entered the room.

Shakily Charlie sat down in the chair opposite of the man who'd kidnapped him, if it wasn't for Amita's presence beside him, he'd have probably run out of the room already. Instead he acknowlegde the man stiffly, "Lexo."

"Hello Charlie, and who is you pretty friend? She's the one in the picture your brother showed me," his voice didn't sound menacing at all, but Charlie didn't trust him.

When Charlie didn't answer, Amita spoke, "I'm Amita," there wasn't any pleasantry or politeness in her voice, it was simply a statement.

Lexo nodded with a nervous smile, "Charlie? I...ask you here so I could apologize in person-"

"Apologize? After everything you put me through?" Charlie stood up quickly and nearly lost his balance. Amita pushed his back down into his chair.

"Take it easy, Charlie. You're not allowed to move too suddenly," she reminded him of the fact his head was still healing.

One of the guards came forward as if to take Lexo back to his sell and he snapped loudly, "Just one more minute."

Charlie flinched at the angry tone of voice and signaled the guards to wait, even though he was fighting the anxiety that came with just being in the same room as Lexo. His chest was tight and his fists clenched in fear, but he tried not to let it show.

Lexo took his chance and continued, "I guess I only saw you as an object to help me get my revenge...I'm sorry. I forgot that...Lexa wouldn't have done what I did if it were me."

Charlie stared at the man for a moment, not believing the words he'd just spoken. He noticed something in the man's eyes, true regret. Lexo really was sorry for what he'd done. The fear didn't quite drain out of Charlie, but he relaxed his fists and took a deep breath, "I forgive you."

Amita smiled warmly at Charlie, knowing it must have been extremely difficult to even say those three words. They had just one more thing, after the visit, to do before going back to Charlie's home, a promise Charlie had to keep.

A tear drifted almost unnoticed down Lexo's face as the guards led him away. His voice was strained with emotion as he replied, "Thank you, Charlie. Now I just have to forgive myself."

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"Today's the day," Don told Tommy, it was the boy's last day in fostercare. For the past month, Alan had volunteered to foster the boy.

"Yep, I'm going to miss you guys. I'm nervous, what if they decide they don't like me?" Tommy asked anxiously, not knowing yet who his new family was.

"They'll love you, I just know it," Don smiled warmly at the teenager.

"I hope so," Tommy commented with a small gulp.

"Are you all packed?" The FBI agent asked, he didn't know who the new family was yet either, but he was going to make sure whoever they were met his approval.

"Alan said he'd pack for me, is Charlie home yet? I want to say goodbye before I go," he didn't want to leave the Eppes home at all. The past month had almost been like his old life, but no abusive or drunken parents. He didn't want to live in another strange home, even if it was a permanent arrangment. He wanted this home to be permanent.

Both of them heard Alan's footsteps as he made his way down the stairs, he wasn't carrying Tommy's duffle bag, confusing the both of them.

They looked at him with puzzled expressions and Alan just smiled broadly, "Well...since I've been wait forever for grandchildren from Don and Charlie, I think I have a better chance with Tommy here. So Tommy, I adopted you." He told them just after the front door swung open signaling Charlie's arrival.

Tears sprung into the teenager's eyes and he hugged Alan with all his might. A loud wail interupted the hug and the three of them looked toward the newest occupants of the room.

"Actually Dad, this is Jamie Lee Eppes. Well officially it's Jamie Lee Yoke, Mike's daughter. He asked me to find her right before...he "_you know_",and I... well I took it a bit farther," He gave Tommy a significant look, both of themhad been friends with the now deceased man,"I'm only fostering her until the paperwork comes through, but.." Charlie trailed off with a huge smile of his face. Amita stood beside him, holding the three year old little girl for Charlie because of his sling.

"Well this family just got a whole lot bigger," Don laughed and a knock was heard at the door, "Come in!" He yelled.

Terry walked into the house and Charlie immediately spoke to the agent, "Thanks for helping me find her," he guestured to the small child.

"No problem," Terry told him and made her way beside Don, linking her arm in his.

Charlie's expression became serious and he turned to Tommy, "Can I talk to in privately, Kiddo?"

Tommy nodded in a confused manner and the rest watched as Charlie led the boy into the garage.

"What is it Charlie?" Tommy asked, worried he'd done something wrong.

Charlie took the boy's wrist in a gentle grip and pushed up the sleeve as best he could with his casted arm, revealing the scars, "I don't want to see anymore of this, okay? If you need help for this, you just tell me."

"Okay, I will," Tommy lowered his eyes in shame at the fact someone had found out his secret, "Who told you?"

Charlie took a deep breath as he released Tommy's arm, "I'm a genius, did you really think I wouldn't figure it out?" He asked, deciding he wouldn't tell the boy about the vision-like dream he'd had while he was unconscious. A smile found its way to Charlie's face as he changed the subject. He pressed a can of party string into the boy's hand, "Let's go get our big brother," he whispered deviously.

The two walked out of the garage, each holding a can behind their backs, advancing on Don and Terry, "What do you guys have?" Don asked suspiciously just before pink and blue party string was sprayed all over him and Terry.

Jamie burst into giggles as the two FBI agents stood shocked for a moment, "Boys...this is war," Don's eyes narrowed in mock anger as Charlie hid behind Amita and Jamie, planting a kiss on both the toddler's forehead and Amita's lips before retreating. He tried not to move to fast, attempting to avoid his brother at the same time as Tommy ducked behind the couch for shelter.

Alan raised his head and asked the ceiling melodramatically, "What have I got myself into?"

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There is the end of my very first Numb3rs fic! I hope you liked it. PLEASE REVIEW! I hope I made the ending long enough for you. I had a number of complaints about length during the story and wanted to make the ending longer as a gift. Anyways I hope I tied up at least most of the loose ends.

P.S. The song referenceis Maintain Consciousness by Relient K (NOT MINE!). Also Don's thought of Charlie painting rainbows is from a poem, I'll include a link in a review replyifyou want to read it.

Nicole


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